Upskilling Your Existing Team
Upskilling has many benefits, which include cost, retention, and productivity to name just a few. Since 2017, the government has made it simple for businesses who want to be Upskilling and training their employees by providing funding through apprenticeships.
But why should you be Upskilling an existing employee through an apprenticeship? I would say, “why wouldn’t you?” I might be biased though! Let’s look at five reasons why you should consider Upskilling your employees (of all ages and levels) through apprenticeships, and three reasons why you shouldn’t.
5 Reasons You Should Be Upskilling Your Staff:
Staff retention
We’re in the middle of a recruitment crisis, and unfortunately, people are hopping between jobs like it’s an Olympic sport. However, for a variety of reasons, if they are enrolled in upskill training through an apprenticeship, retention is significantly improved.
Not only because they are benefiting from the course, but also because you have proven that you are prepared to spend time and money investing in their development. Upskilling your staff shows them that they can advance within your organisation.
The additional subject knowledge and skills will also reduce stress and being able to perform well will boost their self-confidence enormously.
After all, when we’re good at what we do, we like to do it.
Cost-effective
If you’re an SME, with a wage bill of under £3 million, you will only ever contribute 5% to the training costs if the learner is 19 or older. If you wish to put an employee through training who is 16-18, then it’s completely free.
Let’s use the Level 3 Digital Marketing qualification as an example – for a learner in your team who’s 19 or older, you’ll pay just £550 towards an £11,000 course.
What about if you’re a larger company and pay into the levy pot? The levy pot is there to use for apprenticeships. And if you don’t use the money in your levy pot, you can say goodbye to that money, as it starts going into the government’s pocket if not used within two years!
Increase motivation
Many of your employees may already have a house, money, secure job (with you), and even esteem and respect from others for their skills and abilities. So what motivates them?
For many people they want to achieve their full potential. Become the absolute best they can be, or at least embark on that journey.
There is nothing better than seeing an apprentice form any role or industry, return to work after an apprenticeship training day.
The new ideas and skills they have learned often leave them buzzing to get back to work and implement the new knowledge & strategies into their role.
Boost productivity
Studies show that in the UK, we do in 5 days what employees in the US & Germany do in 4. What if you could get that additional day of productivity back?
By studying an apprenticeship, you will learn up-to-date recognised strategies and increase skills. These will allow you or your staff to be more efficient and drive better outcomes from their time.
Don’t fall behind!
Since 2017, the number of companies using apprenticeship funding to upskill their staff has significantly increased to unprecedented levels. So much so that it’s safe to say some of your competitors are taking advantage of the scheme.
3 Reasons Not To Upskill Your Staff:
If you’re looking for a quick win
Apprenticeship training is highly effective, however it’s not a 1-week course and requires enrolling for a minimum of a year. Our courses range from 12-24 months, with long-term, sustainable, result-yielding benefits for the business.
If you’re not willing to invest time into your staff
All apprenticeships require something called ‘Off-the-job training’. This is a log updated by the learner to evidence that they’re learning new skills in and out of the workplace & applying them within their job role. This off-the-job training requires 6 hours per week.
“Invest 20% of time into their training to make them 40% more effective”. That’s what one of the employers we work with said, and they couldn’t have hit the nail on the head more accurately if they tried.
Unwilling to invest time into your staff? Don’t expect them to become more productive & effective.
If you don’t want to grow your business
As mentioned previously, upskilling your staff provides you with new expertise, strategies, and methods to improve and grow your business in different ways.
If you’re happy with the current size of your business, and are not looking for scale or growth, then upskilling your staff using apprenticeship training probably isn’t the right move for you.
There are many benefits to upskilling. Both for the staff going through the training, and for your business.
But if you’re not willing to invest the time and effort, then don’t expect to reap 2, 5, or 10X the benefits that it brings either. No business has ever succeeded by being static.
To conclude
Almost every business can benefit from upskilling, and it’s easily accessible to all. However, it’s not a training day which you can complete, get your certificate, and then forget about. It’s a 15-20 month commitment, where you will learn new knowledge, skills, and abilities, and meet new people on your journey.
If you think you or your team could benefit from upskilling, then drop an email to lydia@professionalapprenticeships.co.uk or head over to our Upskilling page and submit a query, and a member of the team will get back to you within the day!
Our tutors are almost at capacity and we have a upskill cohort starting in the next 2 weeks, so even if you just want to better understand how upskilling works, get in touch today so you can secure your spot on the next cohort!
Additionally, we’re offering free consultations over the next 2 weeks on what course will suit you or your team best. We do this by assessing your current needs, skills gaps, and objectives for the next 24-36 months and allow our specialist tutors to guide you in the best direction.
