Spotlight On: Skills
Identifying your immediate business needs and finding solutions to skills gaps will help build resilience for your organisation. Here, we outline how prioritising skills can help future proof your business.
Skills gaps can impact a business’s adaptability and resilience, both of which are necessary to thrive in today’s economic landscape.
The government has made it clear that skills is a priority, with the introduction of Skills England and the promise to support local areas long-term to ‘develop the skilled workforces they need’. However, organisations also need support in the more immediate term to identify business skills needs and find tangible solutions.
In the latest Skills England Report: Skills for Growth and Opportunity, many skills gaps and challenges were identified including a greater need for adult upskilling and retraining initiatives, and a lack of well-defined and varied progression routes.
Our Quarterly Economic Survey, a collaborative initiative conducted in partnership with 50 chambers of commerce across the United Kingdom and the British Chambers of Commerce, consistently finds that most South-West businesses are struggling to find suitable staff. Organisations like these need faster solutions – tangible takeaways that they can action now to bring quick improvements to their situation, which will allow them to take advantage of opportunities and grow as a business.
How businesses can address the skills gap
Phil Smith, Managing Director at Business West commented, “The skills landscape is vast, and it can be complicated for businesses to navigate. The introduction of Skills England is a positive one and Rachel Reeves’ investment for training and upskilling our young in the recent spending review - £1.2bn a year to support over a million young people into training and apprenticeships - is also welcome.”
“However, there are actions that can be taken by businesses now; identifying short term needs, connecting with future talent by working with education providers, investing in training, and upskilling current staff will all help. This will also build a talent pipeline; increasing long term resilience, and the ability to adapt to emerging trends and new technologies.”
Business West delivers the Local Skills Improvement Plans for Gloucestershire, Swindon & Wiltshire and the West of England & North Somerset. Over the last three years we have spoken to over 450 businesses across these local areas about their skills needs and what they require from education and training providers moving forward.
Through business focus groups, events, conversations, relationships with government and connections with education providers, we have built reports, put forward recommendations and already seen the impact of actions towards priorities across Gloucestershire, Swindon & Wiltshire and the West of England & North Somerset.
These recommendations have resulted in the development of provision in local Further Education (FE) Colleges to ensure progression opportunities for entry level students to higher level education, plus Business West Skills Clinics with dedicated Skills Advisors to help businesses across all local areas identify and secure relevant training. We have also seen millions of pounds worth of investment from the Local Skills Improvement Fund to enable the build and fit out of some fantastic facilities in local colleges.
However, there is still more to do.
Matt Tudge, Head of Skills at Business West said “Skills is something that is important to every business, no matter the size, sector or location. It is a topic that moves fast and is constantly evolving.”
“Businesses need support so they can step-out of a reactive state, where they scramble to hire or outsource when gaps emerge in capabilities. This can become costly, with failed recruitment, delayed projects or overstretched, burnt-out teams. Identifying short-term needs, and seeking help to improve their situation now, will help futureproof their business long-term. There are key ways to do this, and Business West can help signpost to suitable solutions.”
Tips for Building Resilience
Engaging with Education Providers and Independent Training Providers
Education providers are training your future workforce. Therefore, knowing the courses on offer, the skills they are teaching and what upcoming talent wants from their career is knowledge that every employer could benefit from.
Feeding into your area’s Local Skills Improvement Plan, via Business West, also enables you to have a voice about the skills your industry needs now, and in the future. Engaging with current learners introduces your business to a pool of skilled talent and allows you to build a pipeline for future roles.
We highlighted in our blog that engaging with colleges provides businesses with several cost-effective ways to grow, bring in fresh ideas, keep up to date with the latest training and invest in future talent such as hiring an apprentice, working with a T Level student or hosting a work placement.
Each of these pathways have many benefits for students, including equipping them with real life work experience that hiring managers often look for, and transferable skills such as communication and teamwork. They also offer cost effective talent development for businesses, can improve staff retention, business growth and boost morale, with a report by the National Apprenticeship Service revealing that 73% of employers said that staff morale is improved by having apprentices.
In the government's Apprenticeship Evaluation Employer Survey, the most common benefit of apprentices cited by businesses was the development of skills relevant to the organisation (86%), and more than three-quarters (77%) of employers experienced increased productivity.
During a Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) focus group, a local construction employer shared that they “use apprenticeships as a way to prepare for the future" as "they bring new knowledge" and help with succession planning.
Business West currently has a T Level student working in their LSIP team. Research Manager, Hannah Ponsford commented, “It's been a great opportunity for us to help young people gain first-hand experience, supporting them to develop skills and behaviours that employers need, as well as bringing fresh perspectives to the business and introducing us to a future talent pipeline. Making connections with colleges will help our long-term resilience.”
Lynsey McKinstry, Business Partnership Manager at Weston College commented, “Colleges are always on the lookout to engage with local businesses on a regular, and consistent basis. By collaborating with businesses, our students gain real-world experience, strengthen our community ties, and contribute to the local economy. It improves a student’s confidence when it comes to entering the workforce and equips them with transferable skills, such as time management and problem solving, that are so important to success.”
The LSIP team held an event in partnership with City of Bristol College to connect employers and learners in the social care sector, with one organisation hiring a student they had connected with on the day.
The Western Training Provider Network (WTPN), alongside the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority, offers a 'Share To Support' levy transfer service, which helps large employers gift their unspent levy to support small businesses across the West of England to hire and train apprentices. By pledging support businesses can help small organisations within their supply chain, develop skills for small businesses in their industry, further their corporate social responsibility strategy and support job creation and progression opportunities in the region.
There is also an Apprenticeship Support Programme for SMEs available, which offers free, impartial advice from experts to help understand the apprenticeship system, and secure their dream apprentices.
If working with your local college or independent training provider is something you are interested in, Business West has relationships across Gloucestershire, Swindon & Wiltshire and the West of England & North Somerset and can put you in touch with the right person to move things forward.
Investing in Training and Development
Whilst working with education providers through these pathways is one way to help short term skills gaps, it is also important to focus on upskilling and training your current workforce, to plan for future skills needs in your business.
Matt explains, “We are aware through conversations with businesses that investment in training has plummeted, but it ideally should not be seen as an additional cost. It is a core way to remain competitive and is something that should be a priority to retain staff and build future resilience.”
“It is another way for businesses to be proactive, rather than reactive. There is training out there, such as the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority’s Skills Bootcamps, that can help fulfil skills needs using your existing workforce, but sometimes it is just a case of finding where the training exists, which we can help with through our Skills Clinics.”
“Investing in your people will also help them to feel valued, leading to higher staff retention, more motivated staff and less turnover. Whilst investing in training will need budget, you will save on the time and cost of recruitment and onboarding"
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How to Make it Work for Your Business
For staff training and engagement with education providers to be successful and worthwhile, businesses need to first undertake a skills audit, to identify their short-term needs.
Matt continues, “When I first speak to a business that is struggling with skills needs, but is unsure what action to take, I suggest that they ask themselves four questions:
- Where is it hardest to recruit? Are there certain roles that your finding hard to fill? Are there skills that you can’t seem to find in candidates that are applying?
- Where is turnover highest? Are your staff consistently leaving a certain team or department in your organisation? Are there repeated reasons for leaving?
- What have been some missed opportunities? What could, or should, your business have done but didn't because of time, money or other constraints? Have you heard of opportunities that you didn't investigate because of lack of resource? Is there more demand for a particular part of your business that you cannot currently service? Are there adjacent developments that would be natural expansion areas?
- What are the exciting developments in your industry? If you read trade press or speak to others in your sector, what have you heard about that excites you? What are global trendsetters doing that you can see might change the way they work that you can imagine adopting too?
Matt continues, “With the developments in technology such as AI, Augmented Reality, Robotics and Automation as well as the continued need for core skills and flexibility to adapt to the changing world of work, it’s important businesses look inward to see where their gaps are and make a plan to find solutions for these. Business West can connect businesses with colleges, signpost them to training, find peers with the same needs to aggregate demand and hold focus groups to feed into the local skills strategy. "
Matt finishes, “The bottom line is, if you are a business and are struggling with skills gaps, talk to someone about it. There are solutions out there and our team can help you find them based on your unique business challenges.
Start by identifying your short-term needs, engage with colleges and learners, invest in training and feed into the work we’re doing with the LSIPs.
Business West also has a buzzing membership community where you can make connections with other businesses. All these actions will help to improve your situation short-term and help build long-term resilience for your business."