Well, one option is to look at the skill set of your existing staff and consider how they might be up-skilled to meet the challenges facing your business, through re-skilling programmes like apprenticeships.
There are a number of benefits to increasing your staff training which will measurably add to your business and set you up for future growth. Here are three of the main reasons to consider up-skilling your staff:
1) Get new skills into your business
This is perhaps the most obvious reason to consider retraining your staff. As your business changes and expands, there will be a range of different demands on your staff.
Making sure that your staff are trained to respond to these challenges is an easy way to meet realise new opportunities and will keep your business at the forefront of your industry. This will set your company up to be more productive in the future while keeping your employees invested in their work.
2) Retain top talent
If an employee is very valuable to your company but is also looking for new avenues for their own development, then an apprenticeship might be a great way to satisfy their desire to advance while also keeping them within your company.
For workers who never took the opportunity to learn a skill, an adult apprenticeship may be a good way to incorporate them into a more engaging part of your business.
It is also important to remember that workers who have been with your company a long time will carry a lot of company culture with them, which they can pass on to new hires. This level of employee memory is often overlooked by companies, who end up filling positions with new staff rather than retraining their current workers.
3) Limiting risks in your workforce
If your workplace involves operating dangerous machinery or tools, then up-skilling your staff can be an easy way to reinforce the skills needed in your business environment. Apprenticeship training will also involve machinery handling and information about health and safety standards which can be very valuable in any workplace.
Having just a few employees who are aware of any new health and safety procedures can make a big difference to your company’s safety culture. Introducing this level of knowledge into your workforce will remove a lot of the risk from dangerous working conditions.
If an adult apprenticeship sounds like a positive step for your workforce, it pays to consult with an specialised apprenticeship service. They will have the knowledge and experience to make sure your firm gets the right solutions for your needs.
By Leanne de Toerkenczy, Public Relations Coordinator
