Why your business should invest in training in 2021
Finding (and keeping) good employees is one of the most challenging things about being a business owner or employer. The ABS estimates that 8.2% of the Australian workforce changed their employer in the year to February 2020. However, 14.3% of the hospitality workers changed employers and 10.5% of employees in administrative services. If your business is among them, additional training could just be the way to motivate your workforce to stay.
Investing in employees with the intention of educating and training them into the job, can be done via a traineeship. Youth unemployment in WA is rising. With thousands of willing and able young Aussies desperately wanting to get back into the workforce — and with some generous government incentives on the table — traineeships could be a great investment for your business.
Apprenticeship and traineeship numbers have fallen in the past 10 years, but in 2021, businesses all over Australia are revisiting the trainee model — and for good reason! With a new wage subsidy scheme on offer, there has never been a better time to employ a new apprentice or trainee in your business.
What are traineeships?
Traineeships provide individuals with the opportunity to train and study toward a nationally recognised qualification. They combine on-and off-the-job training, while allowing an individual to participate in the workforce and earn an income and are usually completed in one or two years.
You can customise training to suit your business
From day one, you can train your trainee in ‘your way of doing the job’, increasing your business’s efficiency and productivity.
You can also customise the training you provide to suit the needs of your business, by providing training in an area of your business wherever skills are required.
What benefits do trainees provide to employers?
Not only will a trainee help your business grow its talent pool and build a skilled workforce; they’ll give your business the opportunity to adapt your training according to business needs, bridge intergenerational divides, and the chance to upskill your existing workforce. Additionally, staff turnover from hiring trainees tends to be lower as people who have trained with a business are more likely to stay with that business.
As well as the obvious cost benefits of taking on an apprentice or trainee, employers benefit from the flexibility of traineeships and find the talent pool particularly enthusiastic to learn new skills.
The best part? Traineeships are now even more cost-effective, thanks to the current Government scheme…
Why now is the time to consider hiring an apprentice or trainee
To assist with the recovery from the impact of COVID-19, the Australian Government launched the Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements wage subsidy scheme in late 2020.
Through the subsidy, any business that engages an apprentice or trainee by 31 March 2022 may be eligible for a subsidy of 50 percent of wages paid to a new or recommencing apprentice or trainee for a 12-month period from the date of commencement, to a maximum of $7,000 per quarter.
There is no cap on the number of eligible apprentices/trainees, and the Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements wage subsidy is in addition to the Supporting Apprentices and Trainees wage subsidy which has helped small and medium businesses to keep their apprentices and trainees in work and training.
Looking to place your staff into traineeships to boost your business in 2021? We can also help you find trainees. Contact Vocational Training Services today on (08) 6216 0165 for a no-obligation chat with one of our team members.