Notes and news

Citation

Pollitt, D. (2014), "Notes and news", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 46 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ICT-06-2014-0042

Notes and news

Article Type: Notes and news From: Industrial and Commercial Training, Volume 46, Issue 6

Prudential invests £4.1 million in apprenticeships

UK insurer Prudential is investing £4.1 million in developing an apprenticeship program over the next four years, following the successful completion of a pilot scheme involving 47 people aged 16-26.

The work-based program - offered at offices in London, Reading and Stirling - gives apprentices the opportunity to achieve a recognized vocational qualification as well as gaining work-based skills. It is based on a 12-month training contract, with all apprentices being paid the national living wage.

Cathy Lewis, executive director, corporate services, Prudential UK and Europe, said: "Being a long-term business means supporting the long-term well-being of the communities in which we operate. We recognize that youth unemployment is among the most pressing issues facing the UK. Through our apprenticeship program we aim to offer opportunities to young people who otherwise may not have been considered for, or given the opportunity to embark on, a career in the financial sector."

"The roles offer a range of opportunities, requiring different levels of qualifications, and we are keen to attract a diverse range of young people to fill these positions."

"Our aim is to give the young people who join our apprenticeship program full-time work, combined with the opportunity to learn life skills that will stand them in good stead in developing their careers after completion of the program."

The National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) helped Prudential to develop the program. Jill Lowery, NAS deputy director of employer and provider services, commented: "Apprenticeship programs provide an important launch pad for many young people seeking to enter the workplace for the first time."

"From the outset, there was a firm commitment and drive from Prudential to develop a program. It has been fantastic to see the vision become a reality. Now with a successful first year of the program under its belt, Prudential's continued investment will give even more young people the opportunity to gain access to an apprenticeship opportunity and make a positive start to their career."

Prudential is one of the insurance companies taking an active role in the Government's employer-led apprenticeship reform in England, in which groups of employers known as apprenticeship trailblazers work together to design new apprenticeship standards for roles in their sectors. The insurance trailblazers have the opportunity to influence the content of future apprenticeships and shape the standards for today's apprentices who could be helping to lead the insurance sector in the future.

Training delivers sustainable improvements for resistor firm

UK electrical manufacturer Cressall Resistors has worked with training provider Focus Management for Business to deliver a set of National Vocational Qualification training programs in business-improvement techniques for its plant-floor team.

Cy Wilkinson, Cressall managing director, worked closely with Focus to develop its own delivery plan, which included one-to-one interaction and working in teams.

Training included environmental health and safety, line management and sustainable business improvements. The last of these involved the delivery of the sustainable-improvement course, a Level 4 NVQ qualification in business-improvement techniques.

Focus Management for Business secured funding support to minimize the cost of the training programs. Cressall is now engaged in the next phase of its business-improvement techniques program.

"Electrical manufacturing, and manufacturing overall for that matter, is continually evolving with new processes and guidelines," explained Cy Wilkinson. "By ensuring that its training is up to date, Cressall can develop a more efficient workforce and thus a better end-product."

Cressall's continued growth during the recession can be partly attributed to its focus on business improvement. This has been achieved, in part, by improving staff skills, as well as the sustainable manufacturing improvements made in the business.

"Over the last few years we have provided training for different levels of workforce development," continued Cy Wilkinson. "We are working to put some of the team through another set of qualifications, so there is no doubt that training is an ongoing process."

Cressall Resistors designs and manufactures electrical resistors for use in power generation, high and medium-voltage power distribution, marine and offshore electrical systems, drives and controls for cranes, hoists and industrial machinery, rail traction and stand-by power systems.

Hairdressers cut up about apprenticeship-funding reforms

The UK National Hairdressers' Federation is concerned about what the Government expects salons to pay toward the cost of new, employer-led apprenticeships when they are introduced from next year.

The Government has said that employers will have to pay a third of the cost of training young people - £1 from employers for every £2 the Government puts in. There will be five funding bands which set out the maximum Government funding depending on the sector, but it has not yet been announced which band hair and beauty will fall into or when that decision will be made.

An NHF member, Barbara McNaughton, from Elements, in Oxted, said: "I currently employ eight apprentices in my salon. I struggle to see how it is feasible for a high-street business to build in the additional cost of employer contributions on top of the wages we already pay our apprentices. Many of the smaller salons will simply stop taking on apprentices."

On the plus side, there will be additional Government support, including extra payments on completion of an apprenticeship, an incentive payment for small business with fewer than 50 employees and incentives for taking on people aged between 16 and 18. The Government will continue to fully fund training in mathematics and English.

But the NHF has expressed disquiet as it has only just found out from the Government that industries which are developing trailblazer standards will also be expected to pilot the funding reforms.

Hellen Ward, managing director of Richard Ward Hair and Metrospa, heads the strategic group on hairdressing, while George Hammer, chairman of beauty salon Urban Retreat, leads the strategic group for beauty. Both are supported by expert working groups. The trailblazer process is being led within the industry by the NHF and sector-skills body Habia.

Hellen Ward said: "Our trailblazer group was unaware that our sectors would be piloting these funding reforms. It is a concern to us that the Government kept us in the dark about such an important development. This process needs to be open, honest and transparent if we are to achieve what I know is everyone's ultimate aim - an apprenticeship system that is fit for purpose and fit for the modern world of work."

NHF chief executive Hilary Hall said that there remained deep concerns in the industry about the direction of the Government's funding reforms, not least the worry that forcing employers and training providers to negotiate on funding could create a marketplace where education provision is driven by cost and price rather than quality.

Many employers are also deeply concerned about the extra administrative burden of having to manage funding, plus the effect that being forced to make a cash contribution to training costs will have on the appetite, or ability, of salons to take on apprentices.

"We have stressed throughout the standards-development process that trailblazer standards and funding reforms are, or should be, separate issues. Now it appears they are, in fact, linked. In a sector where there are already major reservations about the funding reforms, this is unhelpful and risks damaging the sector's engagement with the new trailblazer standards," said Hilary Hall.

National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) finds the solution in the cloud

The NSPCC will use unified, cloud-based talent-management software for learning and development, performance management and succession planning to manage and develop its 2,000-strong workforce.

The software, from Cornerstone, will deliver learning tailored to each user's job role and career aspirations. This will streamline the time spent on learning and reduce time away from the job.

Siobhan Sheridan, NSPCC human-resources director, said: "Our people are pivotal to our mission of ending cruelty to children. Enabling them to be as effective as possible every moment of every day is critical. We have to ensure that we have the right people to deliver this highly important work."

"Our approach to recruiting, managing and developing the most talented and highly skilled workforce possible therefore tops our agenda."

Meanwhile, the UK-based airline Virgin Atlantic has chosen Saba Cloud to manage the learning and performance needs of employees and partners globally. The system focusses on the continuous learning, engagement and development of the airline's 15,000 employees and partners across six global divisions. The initiative will support the company strategy of driving customer service excellence and continued brand development.

Blue Arrow target is to get more people into work

Blue Arrow will work with Learndirect and the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy to deliver pre-employment and entrepreneurial-skills training to help the UK recruitment company to place unemployed 16-24-year olds and over 50s in vacancies in British businesses.

Among the biggest problems businesses face is candidates lacking the skills for the jobs on offer. Consultancy firm McKinsey has reported that a quarter of European employers are struggling to fill vacancies despite the large number of unemployed youth. Almost three-quarters of education suppliers believe that young people are being equipped with the skills required for work yet only 35 percent of employers surveyed agree with this statement.

Learndirect will offer pre-employment training to prepare and equip qualifying candidates for the workplace, before they are placed in suitable employment.

The Peter Jones Enterprise Academy will work with Blue Arrow to provide commercial work-experience placements to academy students. This is designed to give them the entrepreneurial skills that are in demand by the businesses looking to hire young employees.

"Blue Arrow has committed to support our academy students nationally with work-experience placements. In addition, it is providing workshop-development programs, which specialize in CV-writing and interview skills. All these components provide invaluable experience and learning for our academy network and play a significant role in preparing our students for employment, starting their own business or going to university," said Alice Barnard, Peter Jones Enterprise Academy chief executive.

"The challenge of helping unemployed, low-qualified adults back into work is not going away and there is no simple answer. The solution needs to combine skills-based training, relevant work experience and help with job searching. Blue Arrow is well-placed to identify suitable work opportunities for the unemployed that - with the right support, experience and training - can help to develop their talent and skills to the requirements of business," commented Mark Manaton, Blue Arrow chief executive.

"These new partnerships represent a significant way of breaking down the barriers that restrict access to the labor market, specifically with the young unemployed. We have only touched the surface with our achievements to date and believe both Learndirect and the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy offer the complementary skills that are required to get Britain back to work."

Gender-diversity initiative wins global award for Goldman Sachs

Investment bank Goldman Sachs won the global prize for its women's career strategies initiative (WCSI) in awards sponsored by Opportunities Now, the campaign to promote gender diversity in the workplace.

WCSI is a six-month, cross-divisional career-management program running in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the USA, Asia and India. It provides developmental opportunities for a select group of the firm's high-performing women.

The program forms part of Goldman Sachs' broader strategy to help high-potential women to develop lasting and successful careers.

WCSI was launched in 2005 after more women than usual left the business between 2000 and 2004 and in recognition of the fact that associate level for women often coincides with starting to juggle a family and a career. Since its inception, WCSI has evolved to also include a focus on taking a commercial approach and maintaining personal resilience.

"The success of the program lies in exposing participants to a host of senior leaders with myriad experiences between them. This gives us a broader perspective on alternative ways of having a successful career here," said one participant.

Another commented: "WCSI has already influenced the way I carry myself. I feel more confident of myself and of my capabilities."

The program's objectives are to:

* increase the retention rates of women associates;

* provide career enrichment and development at critical times in women's careers; and

* facilitate company-wide networking and exposure to senior leaders.

The program is nomination-based and requires at least one year's service as a Goldman Sachs associate. Regional program sponsors support participant involvement and ensure line-manager accountability. Sponsors are typically senior managing directors.

Senior divisional champions - typically senior vice-presidents and managing directors - act as informal mentors, meeting participants in their divisions for at least three one-hour group sessions to discuss division-specific topics aligned with their WCSI program objectives.

Senior leaders, including the chairman and European co-chief executive, offer senior-spotlight sessions to provide insights into organizational strategy.

A series of full and half-day events during business hours focusses on building a leadership profile, career management, work-life balance and being commercial. "Presence for promotion" develops communication skills using interactive drama-based methods.

At the beginning of the program participants are asked to create career action plans and complete an engagement letter in which they identify the skills they wish to develop and their career concerns and challenges. This helps to tailor sessions to their needs and acts as a springboard for career conversations with their managers.

Between 2005 and 2011 1,694 associate women participated globally. WCSI alumni were retained at a higher rate than their non-WCSI peers, with a 12 percent differential even up to five years after program completion. For WCSI alumni choosing to leave Goldman Sachs, the average tenure was longer for WCSI participants than for their non-WCSI counterparts - by over six months, for some classes.

In 2011 each participant completed more than 36 hours of training and heard from around 15 managing directors. Almost everyone rated the overall program "excellent" or "good," 96 percent strongly agreed or agreed that the content was relevant to their development needs and 97 percent strongly agreed or agreed that it equipped them with skills to make them more effective.

Jaguar Land Rover puts female engineers on the road to success

Jaguar Land Rover has won the advancing women in the workplace award for its women in engineering sponsorship scheme in awards sponsored by Opportunities Now, the campaign to promote gender diversity in the workplace.

In 2011, there were 2,694 female students who graduated from engineering subjects in the UK. Only 27 percent then chose careers in engineering. Jaguar Land Rover wanted to offer those women an insight into potential careers.

The women in engineering sponsorship scheme is designed to support the training of female engineer undergraduates alongside their degree. In addition, the engineering network for women (TEN) is a forum giving students in all engineering disciplines the opportunity to understand the importance of networking and to interact with employees at all levels in Jaguar Land Rover.

The engineering sponsorship scheme provides ten new places every year to support the training of female engineering undergraduates who want to explore and develop their future career path in engineering while studying. The students complete three, six or 15-month placements during their studies. Jaguar Land Rover provides the students with intensive, first-hand experience of how the company operates and places them on projects where they can make a significant contribution.

Each student is assigned a mentor from Jaguar Land Rover to support her training both within the company and when she returns to university. These mentoring opportunities are supported by high-potential female managers. In addition, all students are paid a competitive salary while working at Jaguar Land Rover.

In the first 15 months after TEN was set up there were 12 networking sessions at 11 hub universities, plus one on-site skill session in conjunction with the sector skill council for science, engineering and manufacturing technologies.

The female-led sessions are run by two senior managers and a team of graduates. The main aims are to dispel myths about careers in engineering, emphasize the importance of networking and enable the students to start building their own network. The events last for around two hours, with time assigned to informal networking.

Both approaches have been promoted through a facebook group, careers services, academics and graduate media, plus relevant academic, student and professional bodies.

Jaguar Land Rover last year saw a 63 percent and 75 percent increase in female hires for undergraduate and product-development engineering, respectively. The firm increased its target of sponsored places from 10 to 17 this year because of the high caliber of students.

The size of the engineering network continues to grow. Jaguar Land Rover has now met more than 700 students, many of whom are starting to investigate a career in engineering, which they had not previously explored.

The events have also been a valuable opportunity for the 120 current Jaguar employees who have been involved to network, meet senior managers and work on project-management skills key to their career progression. In addition, TEN is starting to be driven by the engineering population rather than purely the HR function.

Station provides a platform for 100 apprentices

The team redeveloping Birmingham New Street station is celebrating the appointment of the 100th apprentice to the project.

James Skyrme, from Birmingham, is the 100th apprentice to be recruited to work on site as an apprentice for local demolition firm Coleman & Company.

The 100 Birmingham New Street apprentices have been taken on within two years of the scheme making a pledge to recruit more than 100 apprentices to help to deliver the station's transformation.

Before being employed by Coleman & Company, James Skyrme had been unemployed for two months after completing a work placement with Birmingham City Council's housing department. He registered on the council's employment access database and was contacted to see if he was interested in applying for a vacancy with Coleman & Company.

Chris Montgomery, Network Rail project director, said: "Working alongside Birmingham City Council and our delivery partner Mace, we are helping to support young people from across the West Midlands and beyond to get access to and learn a trade which will provide them with many opportunities in the future."

Mark Carless, contracts director at Coleman & Company, said: "We put real value in apprenticeships as a way to support young people to get into the industry and receive training while on the job and earning a wage."

Birmingham City Council has been working with contractors and their supply chain to achieve the project's goal to leave a legacy of skills, training and education in the community.

Councilor Tahir Ali, cabinet member for development, jobs and skills, said: "We all know that apprenticeships are vital to ensure that we are training our next generation of young people. To achieve this milestone of 100 apprentices gives a strong message of what can be achieved through leading by example and striving for excellence in skills and employment."

Teignbridge teams up in e-academy

A partnership spearheaded by Teignbridge District Council offers learning opportunities for hundreds of public-sector employees across the UK.

The e-academy is an online learning program of more than 200 courses, covering topics including business skills, customer skills, management skills and information management.

Councillor Mike Walters, Teignbridge District Council's executive spokesman for corporate services, said: "The continued development of the e-academy really helps to create a sustainable future particularly in challenging times when resources are increasingly becoming limited."

"Getting the best out of staff and continuing their development is fundamental to the delivery of high-quality services for Teignbridge as it is to lots of other organizations. These days, time is money and we all want staff to deliver the best and most professional service possible to customers while providing value-for-money front-line services."

"It is really positive that we can deliver this type of collaborative training model with other councils and public-sector organizations."

David Pollitt