All employers with an annual pay bill of more than £3 million must pay a levy of 0.5% on it, to be recouped by employing apprentices. How can employers and coaches/mentors ensure this investment is maximised?
By Annette Allmark
Research indicates that 80% of companies that invest in apprentices report an increase in staff retention. There’s also compelling evidence that progressing the brightest and best talent through apprenticeships can significantly boost the bottom line. So how can the new-style apprenticeships be used to maximise levy investment and effectively develop talent and increase productivity and retention? And where might coaching and mentoring fit in?
The good news is that the apprenticeships don’t have to be delivered right away. While many employers have their levy strategies well underway, the funds only expire after 24 months so there’s still time to put in place a strategic plan – ‘strategic’ being the operative word.
The bigger picture
An apprenticeship strategy must not exist in isolation to the broader talent strategy, so an integrated approach is required across businesses.
Apprenticeships are a fantastic route to develop the critical skills required now and in the long term. Leadership teams need to be engaged in the process and it’s important to be clear about leaders’ aspirations around learning and development, and where apprenticeships sit in the talent development strategy.
The new-style apprenticeships have been developed by employers, and form progressive pathways to support and facilitate career development. They can fit into businesses in a number of ways, not only as a recruitment tool, but also to help staff progress within
the business.
The first step is to identify the standards to be used to develop the skills needed from the workforce, from entry-level through to managerial roles.
A flexible approach
The new apprenticeships offer far greater flexibility. Businesses can decide on the training their apprentice undertakes as long as it meets the apprenticeship standard. To begin, it’s important to carry out a gap analysis of what training and development is already in place and how this can be mapped to the apprenticeship standard. Include coaching and mentoring in the analysis – what is already on offer and where are the gaps? Then a view can be taken about how to fill those gaps.
In-house vs outsourced
The new standards put the onus on the employer to decide what will best suit their business needs. Employers have the option to use an external training provider or their in-house team to deliver the training.
If employers choose to use an external provider they need to ensure they’re on the government’s register of apprenticeship training providers. People1st’s gold standard apprenticeship provider scheme can help businesses in the visitor economy, which includes hospitality, to identify employer-endorsed providers that deliver an outstanding service to achieve the best results.
If training is to be delivered in-house, employers need to register their own business on the register. A guide to the process is available via: www.gov.uk
Meeting the standard
Apprentices must pass an assessment at the end of the programme to check their competence, but it is up to employers to decide when they are ready for this.
To find organisations approved to assess standards in the relevant industry, search the government’s online register of apprenticeship assessment organisations.
Supporting apprentices – and their managers
Pastoral support, mentoring and coaching play an important role in apprenticeships. Putting in place mentoring programmes for apprentices ensures they feel supported from the start. For many apprentices, this is their first taste of the world of work, and mentoring can help them feel more at ease. Mentoring also gets apprentices up to speed more quickly so they can be more productive sooner. Apprentices can even be invited to act as ‘reverse mentors’ to colleagues, which will help to empower and engage them.
Coaching, including career coaching, can offer vital support to apprentices, helping them be more effective, as Mitchells & Butlers discovered (see below).
Case study: Mitchells & Butlers
In a UKCES Futures Project, Mitchells & Butlers (which operates around 1,700 restaurants and pubs across the UK) found that career coaching – focused on learning styles, personality preference, learned optimism and self-branding – had a marked influence on the effectiveness of its apprenticeship programme, helping it increase retention, reduce skills gaps and in turn increase business performance. It experienced a retention rate of 67% with apprentices that were given support, compared to 34% with those that weren’t.
To ensure that general managers delivering the pastoral support felt they had the resources and skills to do so, Mitchells & Butlers also created a support system and put in place measures to increase their confidence and skills and ensure they see the apprenticeship programme as a strategic imperative.
Communication is key
It’s critical that employers get the buy-in of the business more widely and that they communicate the goals of the new apprenticeships clearly. Pull in all the relevant stakeholders and ensure they all understand what the introduction of the levy will mean to the business and are all involved in creating fulfilling programmes that meet the standards.
The levy has bottom-line implications and it is important to partner with the finance team to agree how to define and deliver return on investment. This might include cost modelling to ensure that the numbers and funding bands are clear.
Networking and collaboration
Embedding the new-style apprenticeships into the talent strategy will provide a valuable progression route for both new and existing employees. It can be a steep learning curve, but there is plenty of support and networking and collaboration is critical.
- Annette Allmark is director of strategic policy at People1st
References
- National Apprenticeship Service and BIS Research Paper 204 Apprenticeship Evaluation: Employers, December 2014
- Progression Pathways in the Retail and Hospitality Sectors, Project summary and evaluation – Mitchells & Butlers. People1st for UKCES Futures project, 2015