Regardless of whether you’re a small, large or enterprise organisation, apprenticeships are a great way for your employees to develop skills relevant to your operations, boost productivity, reduce employee turnover, increase employee motivation and even profitability. Whether your organisation is apprenticeship levy paying or not, it is worthwhile understanding the value that apprenticeship programmes will bring your business.
The talent gulf in procurement
There is a talent gulf between employer demand and candidate qualifications in procurement roles. According to the 2022 CIPS Salary Guide, 56% of employers request MCIPS (or working towards) when recruiting (across all sectors and levels) yet only 1 in 25 procurement professionals have MCIPS and a staggering 9 in 10 do not have any formal procurement training.
Apprenticeships in Procurement and Supply have additional benefits
Many of the circa 650 apprenticeship standards do not lead to formal qualifications. However, a unique benefit in one of the two apprenticeships in procurement and supply is that CIPS accreditation forms part of those apprenticeship standards.
Currently the Level 4 Commercial Procurement and Supply and Level 3 Procurement and Supply Assistant apprenticeships have the CIPS Level 4 Diploma or CIPS Level 3 Advanced Certificate respectively as part of the apprenticeship standard. The Level 5 and 6 apprenticeships in procurement and supply are expected in 2023.
Add value to your operations
According to the apprenticeships.gov.uk website, 86% of employers said apprenticeships helped them develop skills relevant to their organisations.
Not only will your employee have a qualification that is extremely valuable to them individually and to you as an employer, injecting the relevant knowledge, skills and behaviours acquired from the apprenticeship will add a whole new dimension to your workplace, bringing with it a fresh perspective and new ideas.
Moreover, the End Point Assessment (EPA) project and presentation involved in an apprenticeship adds value to your organisation by examining aspects of your current processes, leading to improvements in performance, costs, service levels and efficiency.
Apprenticeship Funding is for everyone
The Apprenticeship Levy is payable by all companies with a payroll in excess of £3m. However, almost half of organisations do not fully utilise their apprenticeship levy balance. Known as co-investment, unused levy may be used by ANY organisation to fund valid apprenticeships for only 5% of the cost of the apprenticeship, and for FREE if the employer has 50 employees or less.
Apprenticeships as part of your talent strategy
Many organisations think deeply about apprenticeships in their overall talent strategy. Recruiting an apprentice is a common method and generally part of a balanced strategy between training existing employees and bringing in fresh talent.
This is because an apprenticeship is a commitment for both the employer and the apprentice. An apprenticeship is essentially a job with training, and the employer must allocate time in the apprentice’s working week to attend training. From 1st August 2022 the government proposal is that this will be a flat 6 hours per week on average across the apprenticeship.
Recruit an apprentice v Hire new talent v Train existing employees
Apprenticeships are therefore not the whole solution, but they must surely be an integral part of future talent alongside hiring new talent.
An apprenticeship is a cost-effective way to develop your existing talent, even more so if you recruit to a salary based on apprenticeship training being part of the package. Recruiting new employees can fill an immediate talent gap, but it is a risky way of securing all talent requirements. Not every recruitment will be a success or prove to be a good return on investment.
Our parent company, Slater Austin, provides supply chain consultancy and recruitment services, and they offer a free review looking at the right talent development strategy across apprenticeships, training, interim placement and permanent recruitment. Click here to find out more about their free reviews.
The correlation between happy employees and low employee turnover
A significant benefit of apprenticeships is that the motivation factor as your employees see you investing in them directly. In a recent 2021 report , 45% of surveyed employees said they would be more likely to stay at their current jobs if they were offered more training. Undoubtedly, investing in employee training can have a positive impact on staff turnover.
What to look for in a Training Provider
Choosing an apprenticeship training provider should be no different to choosing an employee to represent your organisation. When it comes to apprenticeships in procurement and supply, we believe that you should choose a specialist provider and not a generalist. For more information, contact our specialist team today by calling 0808 231 2477 or completing our contact form here.
Aspire is accredited as a CIPS Centre of Excellence, the highest accreditation that you can achieve and representative of quality and depth of procurement teaching. With 8 centres across the UK, and online, and on premises options available, when you think of apprenticeships in procurement and supply, think Aspire.