Apprenticeships are a valuable option for both the employee and the employer. They are a cost-effective way to help build and grow a strong workforce as they help to develop an individual’s skills, knowledge, and understanding required to fit key roles within an organisation. High quality training helps employers to build and sustain a long-term edge in their industry whilst also allowing individuals to take the first steps in their career, upskill, or change the direction of their career completely. 

Apprenticeships are an effective way for current workers to upskill and progress in their career. Ensuring that employees are refreshing their knowledge helps to narrow the skills gap in any business, meaning that employees are equipped with the insight and skills needed for an organisation to grow and innovate. Employers can enrol existing staff on to a relevant apprenticeship programme, no matter their prior attainment – as long as they can demonstrate that there is a business need, where additional skills and a greater understanding will be achieved. The employee will still fulfil the role of their job while they study. By the end of the qualification, they will have gained the knowledge needed to enhance your business from within – and they’ve probably already started doing it! When you train your staff, they become better learners. With an agile, fast-learning team, you can work more efficiently and effectively than your competition. By upskilling your current employees with an apprenticeship, you will be investing in the training and education of an individual that you trust and who already has an interest in the business. This will inspire staff to move through the ranks, producing a progressive workforce, increasing their morale and trust in you. 

Apprenticeships are a fantastic provision to help young people get their foot in the door and gain real life work experience, whilst also earning a wage. I have seen this first hand recently at organisations like The Hut Group, who have become an online retail force in the last decade. They have enrolled over 200 new staff members onto apprenticeships in customer facing roles and embedded them as part of their people development strategy. 

A sector where we have seen apprenticeships have a real impact is customer service. Customer service apprenticeships enable businesses to train their staff to deliver the best service to the consumer as possible. This is going to be especially important for the hospitality and retail industries as the competition will be high coming out of the pandemic.

It gives people the opportunity to gain an understanding of customer insight and why continuous improvement is important in a service environment. Customer service is a complex profession which includes a lot more than being polite to customers, it involves problem solving, finding solutions under pressure and the knowledge to make the correct delivery decision in different situations.

As a training provider, we have found that businesses have previously been reluctant to hire apprentices because of the 20% required off-the-job training, where the apprentice had to attend a college facility away from the workplace. Now, businesses can combine work and study by mixing on-the-job training and traditional learning, with the help of an Apprenticeship Trainer. This training can take place in the workplace where the apprentice can learn new skills suited to the business. Apprentices can immediately put their knowledge into practice and make an instant impact by contributing to improving productivity.

Learning Curve Group work with over 4,500 employers a year and, as one of the UK’s largest and most diverse training providers, we have seen how apprenticeships can transform lives and also transform businesses. There is more funding available to businesses now than ever for hiring an apprentice. Not only is there funding for the cost of apprenticeship training, but there are also grants  which are paid directly to the business. Employers are now eligible to receive up to £4,000 for each new apprentice they take on. This money can be used for training, uniform, or be put towards a business recovery plan.