Stephen Martin, chief executive of Scunthorpe-based Clugston Group, is set to appear on the Channel Four series Undercover Boss next week finding out what life is like at the coalface of the logistics and construction business.
Clugston Group, which turned over £141.7m in the year ending January 2009, employs more than 600 people and on top
of its Clugston Distribution Services logistics subsidiary has interests in the construction and property sectors.
As part of the filming for the programme, which airs on 25 June, Martin worked as an 'undercover' labourer for two weeks on a number of the groups' construction sites, discovering the logistics behind construction projects. His co-workers believed he was an office worker looking at what he could learn from people who worked outdoors.
Despite identifying problems in communication at the grassroots level, Martin says the underlying lesson was discovering the level of skills he would lose as an ageing workforce approached retirement.
"We've all heard about the ageing workforce coming up for retirement - but I saw first-hand how they have critical skills which are about to be lost," he says.
Since filming, Martin has introduced a programme to pass on the skills of older workers
to the younger generation.
Martin follows in the footsteps of Pall-Ex boss Hilary Devey, who appeared on Channel Four's Secret Millionaire in September last year.
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