Apprenticeships – the benefits for employers

Written on 14th, July 2022

If you’re a business and you haven’t thought about offering apprentice roles, you might just be missing out on the brightest minds around. Over 80% of businesses that had apprentices would recommend it to other businesses.

Both the business and the apprentice will benefit from the scheme in many ways. The next wave of bright business minds will get key skills and learn about the culture of the business in a hands-on way.   An experience that can’t be replicated in almost any other situation.

But what do employers get?

Recruitment cost savings
It’s no secret that the cost of hiring great new talent is increasing every year. Depending on the type of industry you are in, the cost of hiring can be as much as the salary for the role.

You can access our free recruitment service and take the hard work out of finding the right people for the role.

For large companies that contribute to the government’s apprenticeship levy, you can access the funds to pay for training and assessments for apprenticeships. Small businesses can access the cost-share scheme and split the cost of apprenticeships with the government.

Hiring the right apprentice will cut your recruitment costs and give your business a highly motivated new staff member.

Productivity
The overall productivity of your team can be seriously improved by hiring apprentices. They are dedicated to learning the role and will become efficient thanks to the support of the management, mentors and training as part of their apprenticeship.

Since an apprentice learns their skills and understanding of the business directly from those who already have experience, their knowledge of processes, procedures and the culture of the company will come quickly.

As your new apprentice learns more about the business and their role, they will be able to take on larger responsibilities, and your team will be more productive.

Retention
In the age of remote working, hybrid working, and the mass amount of the workforce that left in the last few years, employee retention is at an all-time low. Employee loyalty and retention have always been an issue, and it is costly too.

Apprentices are employees that are in it for the long term. They are looking for long-term learning and working experience, which means the investment you make in their skills and learning will be repaid.

Apprentices are dedicated to the role that they take and have a positive impact on a business’s overall retention rates. Since gaining an apprenticeship is competitive, the person you select will be happy to be in the role and, in most cases, grateful for the experience and opportunity to start their career – or improve their current role.

A sense of loyalty and commitment will quickly be part of the relationship your business forms with an apprentice – and that will be repaid by keeping them in the team.

Best New Talent
While there is a lot to be said for employees who have years of experience, those who are fresh out of a learning environment offer up-to-date best practice knowledge. As well as being familiar with new technology, theories and more.

New fresh minds are looking to put their knowledge to the test and learn the practical side of the career path.

Since they haven’t been trained anywhere else, they will grow into how your business does things and will quickly learn processes and how your business operates.

What makes apprenticeships incredible for many businesses is that it’s not just for young people who are leaving education. Apprenticeships are available to people of all ages, including people who already work within the business – allowing your business to double down on having the most skilled employees.

When you make the decision to find an apprenticeship, you immediately get access to the best new talent, or further improve the skills of your current employees.

Reputation
Happy staff work harder, and not only that – they are more likely to be good representatives of your company outside of business hours. The statistics around what businesses gain are pretty outstanding. For example, 75% of businesses felt that having an apprenticeship scheme improved their services, products, and staff morale.

Not only that but 86% of employers with apprenticeships said they benefited from the development of skills relevant to the organisation.

These are just the start of the benefits to a business that chooses to hire apprentices, and we’d love the opportunity to see how we can help you find the right funding and the right apprentices to join your business. Check out our great information about apprenticeships here: Apprenticeships and Employers – Professional Training Solutions.