Apprenticeships are growing in popularity, as both an alternative to University for school/college leavers and as a way to kickstart a career in a new job market. Apprenticeships are perfectly suited for small businesses, and here’s why…
Supported by the right training
When you take on an apprentice, you’re training them in the workplace as well being supported by an apprenticeship training organisation. They will work with you to ensure that the training the apprentice receives is highly relevant and designed to suit the job role, sector or size of the company they’ll be working for. With 10 different category types of apprenticeships, you can be sure that there is a training program to suit your business, including:
Agriculture, Horticulture and Animal Care
Arts, Media and Publishing
Business, Administration and Law
Construction, Planning and the Built Environment
Education and Training
Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies
Health, Public Services and Care
Information and Communication Technology
Leisure, Travel and Tourism
Retail and Commercial Enterprise
Easy and affordable
Hiring and training a new employee is often a long winded, detailed and expensive process. With apprenticeships, more often than not, the training costs are met in full, and with small businesses being able to apply to receive a £1500 grant from the government for taking on apprentices, it all makes perfect sense. The a National Minimum Wage for an apprentice is £2.68, meaning that the average wage for a standard apprentice is around £200, although this is at your discretion and can be lowered to be minimum wage or increased to any wage you deem fit.
Happy, loyal, committed staff
Not only do apprentices being fresh ideas, creativity and enthusiasm to a business, they also appreciate that you’re giving them an opportunity to earn money whilst learning the skills they’ll need throughout their career. This promotes and creates loyal and committed staff who know your business, and fit in brilliantly. It can also help to promote a sense of autonomy and make existing employees feel valued, as they help and teach your apprentice staff. Clients also see hiring apprentices as a smart move, as you’re investing in training committing to a skilled workforce and offering opportunities to young people.
Develop your own culture and ethos
What separates each business from one another, and small businesses from corporate giants is creativity, a unique approach to business challenges, a niche or a particular way of doing things that is either most effective, or beneficial to clients – Taking on apprentice at the very start of their career allows you to tailor and train them to work how you want, in fitting with your business style and ethos as well as installing your business way of life into them.
You get more support with an Apprentice
Starting a new apprenticeship can be nerve-racking. Often it is at the start of a persons career and they’re getting trained for something they are relatively new to, but for businesses who’re taking on apprentices it can be just as unnerving and bleak.
The National Apprenticeship Service with their Small Business Team, government advice and funding as well as help from the training organisation, apprenticeships are nothing to worry about for small businesses, as you’re supported all the way.
How Direct365 support apprentices
Direct365 fully support the apprenticeship scheme, and have actively taken on two apprentices in the past year. One in our digital team who recently completed 1 year apprenticeship in Creative and Digital Media and another in Business Administration
One of our Business Administration Apprentices, Annabel, has been nominated for an award at this years National Apprenticeships Awards 2014. Annabel, who is currently completing a Business Administration Level 2 in the workplace, through West Lancashire College until August, 2014 has been nominated for the Apprentice of the Year award by her assessor for making a significant contribution to her workplace!
To find out more about these awards, or apprenticeships in general, head over to the Apprenticeships.org.uk website!