Levy into talent – changing the way we think about apprenticeships
Jamie Thomas, Director of Corporate Accounts at QA Apprenticeships discusses the opportunity the levy presents in talent development, and the changes this will present for businesses across the UK.
“Talent development in organisations is about to change beyond recognition”.
The Levy means that apprenticeships are about to become a lot more prominent on corporate talent agendas. As uptake of apprentices increases post-levy, the wider business will need to ‘get’ apprenticeships too.
If you’re familiar with the world of learning and development, you’ll know that it revels in a unique vocabulary that binds it together. When you add to that the new complication of apprenticeships and the language used is even more impenetrable…standards, frameworks, levy, eligibility, OfQuals (and don’t even get me started on the multitude of acronyms we love to use CPD, SFA, DAS, BIS).
Like most language it is only when we engage with a “non-speaker” that the communication barrier becomes apparent – and right there is the challenge - in talking our own language, we make it difficult for our partners in the business to understand, engage with (and maybe get excited by) the concept of apprenticeships. Now, that may be fine when apprenticeships are a small niche element of your talent strategy, all you need to do is hire committed individuals who are prepared to learn the language, but all that is about to change.
The Government have set a target to reach 3 million quality apprenticeship starts in England by 2020, and the apprenticeship levy has been implemented to help achieve this. For large companies it will (in most cases) result in them increasing and diversifying their uptake of apprentices – and this, in turn, will increase the number of people that need to understand apprenticeships. In this new world, powered by the levy, apprenticeships will be accessed by people who have no time or inclination to learn the apprenticeship (or indeed learning) language…they just want talent!
To make apprenticeships accessible for the whole business, we must all work to simplify our language and wards a future where the key word is talent; not training, not learning, not apprentices, not graduates, rising stars, or HiPo’s…just talent…what do we need, where do we get it, what tools do we have to improve it.
What does this mean for the apprenticeship specialists in businesses already?
The responsibilities of the corporate apprenticeship teams are about to grow exponentially. The opportunity for the levy to drive talent is huge. But you have to be ready, the processes that have worked before may not scale, the infrastructure may struggle and this unique opportunity could be lost.
So what can we do to prevent this and turn levy into talent?
Our collective role is to rapidly evolve, to simplify the language and to measure success in business terms. We can all start doing this now, by engaging with our business counterparts, by understanding the talent gaps, by translating the value that apprentices can bring. If you have not run apprentice programmes you should consider pilot cohorts soon – scaling your infrastructure will be easier than inventing it post April 2017.
The Government’s target of 3 million apprentice starts will take some doing, but just think about the talent that it will produce, and the opportunity your business has to get the workforce you need – is your organisation ready to harness the best of it?”
Read more about the apprenticeship levy here
If you would like to speak to our expert team about how the levy will affect your business, contact us today at [email protected]