With the country aiming to boost employment prospects, it’s come as no surprise to see that there has been plenty of discussion about apprenticeships of late. A lot of this revolves around the direct benefits to the employee themselves; who suddenly gain that elusive experience and therefore become a much more attractive person to employ further down the line.
However, this is most certainly a two-way process. Sure, the benefits to employees are aplenty, but the same can be said by those doing the hiring as well. Particularly with all of the apprenticeships from City and Guilds that are now available, it means that apprenticeships now cover a huge number of industries and the opportunities are wider than ever before.
Following on from the above, let’s take a look at some of the direct advantages that are available to employers who are starting to take on apprentices.
There are benefits to existing staff
A lot of the emphasis of apprenticeships is ensuring that the young employee in question is going to develop their skills and ultimately, aid the business.
Something that is often forgotten about is that existing staff can benefit indirectly. By having an apprentice on board, the time of existing staff can be freed up. It means that those mundane, smaller tasks, which often take up so much time during the day, no longer have to.
Sure, an apprentice isn’t there to pick up all of the small and obsolete jobs, but this is still part of their learning and they will be able to take on some of the time-consuming tasks and ultimately help a more experienced employee.
Staff loyalty is much more common
As any business will testify, one of the biggest costs arises through a high employee turnaround. In other words, those businesses which are constantly having to replace staff are going to see their costs soar as a result.
Studies have shown that this is much less likely to happen with apprentices. Instead, apprentices are regarded as being much more motivated and committed, while they also tend to think about their job as more of a career. One fact from the study showed that out of companies who had taken on an apprentice, over 90% felt that their employees were more motivated as a result and they also had higher retention rates.
The bottom line digits
Following on from the above, another study revealed just how important apprentices can be to a company’s bottom line. Here it was found that over 80% of consumers preferred using a company who employs apprentices – resulting in that jump in profits.
There are also other more direct reasons. For example, it’s a well-known fact that employers receive funding for their apprentices, meaning that the recruitment costs immediately fall. Again, it just means that it’s something of a no-brainer for a company to source an apprentice, versus the expensive process of hiring a normal employee who they don’t receive such financial aid from the government.
