Apprenticeships are an established and highly effective way to recruit and train people on the job. By building apprenticeship programmes into your organisation, you are not only helping individuals develop a career, but you are also making a strong business decision which will generate benefits for your team and your bottom line.
In this blog, we’ll take you through a wide range of advantages that apprenticeships can provide, including benefits for senior leaders, benefits for existing employees, and the financial impact of apprenticeship training.
The Business Impact of Apprenticeships
Training providers and apprentice employers often wax lyrical about the benefits of apprenticeships, sharing their stories and showcasing their superstar trainees.
This is all amazing to hear, but what about hard data? To answer these questions, we’ve gathered all the latest independent research.
The Benefits of Apprenticeships: Research & Statistics
There has been a lot of recent research on the impact of apprenticeships. Here are some of the top facts and statistics:
- 98% of employers which currently employ apprentices experience additional benefits to their business, including addressing skills shortages and providing value for money.
- 86% of employers say apprenticeships helped them develop relevant skills for their organisation.
- 74% of employers say apprenticeships helped them improve the quality of their service and products.
- 78% of employers say apprenticeships helped them improve productivity.
- 33% of employers say apprenticeships helped improve diversity within their business.
- The average net benefit of an apprentice is £2496 during their training period.
What is the Return on Investment for Hiring an Apprentice?
An independent apprentice employer network, The St Martin’s Group, published a comprehensive report outlining the costs and benefits of apprenticeships in September 2021. Part of this research included financial calculations quantifying the benefits of apprenticeships to employers.
Economic models estimate that the productive contribution of a typical apprentice is worth between £33,759 and £49,500 per year.
Once employment costs and additional expenses were accounted for, the St Martin’s Group research calculated that the average net benefit of an apprentice was worth £2,496 during their training period.
This research concluded that “when a business hires an apprentice, that apprentice will not only yield a net benefit to employers during training, but will also bring a wide range of additional benefits that significantly outweigh the cost of any initial investment.”
It’s also worth noting that apprentices will continue to generate value for the duration of their employment, long after completing their apprenticeship programme.
Advantages of Apprenticeships for Employers
An apprenticeship is a job-specific development programme which follows a set of standards agreed by industry leaders. Apprenticeships are an incredible way to recruit and train your future talent, anticipating and addressing your future skills needs.
Below are the top five benefits of apprenticeships for business leaders:
1. Develop Skills You Can’t Buy & Fix Your Skills Shortage
Skills gaps exist in every industry, but especially so for specialist digital and tech roles.
According to research by Tech Nation, Software Developers are the number one sought after role, accounting for 9% of all advertised tech jobs. In terms of Data Analysts, government research revealed that over the last two years, 46% of businesses have struggled to recruit for roles requiring data skills. Meanwhile, marketing and IT regularly feature as in-demand skills within KPMG’s monthly UK Report on Jobs.
Apprenticeship training is one solution to these skills shortages, enabling employers to build their future specialists from the ground up.
Our combination of Level 3 and Level 4 apprenticeships can recruit and train a fully-fledged Data Analyst, Software Developer or Network Engineer in as little as three years, while adding tangible value from day one.
2. Save on Recruitment Costs
Even if you can find someone with the skills and experience you need for your business, hiring a senior specialist can come at a cost. According to research from Glassdoor, the average employer spends around £3000 and 27.5 days to hire a new worker.
Apprenticeships can be a great route to save on recruitment fees, as many training providers – including Baltic Apprenticeships – will handle the recruitment process for you, helping you find your ideal candidate free of charge.
3. Improve Staff Satisfaction & Retention
Apprentices can be a cost-effective way to ease the pressure on a stretched team, increasing capacity while boosting morale. With apprenticeships, you can mould your candidates to fit in with your business needs, values and culture from the very start.
Given the opportunity, many apprentices choose to remain within the business as full-time members of staff once they have finished their training.
Apprenticeships are an effective way of nurturing loyal members of staff who will continue to benefit your company in the long term. At Baltic Apprenticeships, 95% of our learners who pass their programme remain with their employer in a full-time role or higher apprenticeship programme.
4. Boost Productivity with Apprenticeships
According to Government research, 78% of employers say apprenticeships helped them improve productivity.
Once your apprentices have found their bearings within the business, they will be able to alleviate a lot of the stress that a heavy workload can bring to a team. The simplest tasks can often end up taking the most time, as they tend to be frequent. Having apprentices on the team means that these basic jobs can be taken care of, freeing up the rest of your team to work on higher level projects.
5. Diversify Your Team
33% of employers say apprenticeships helped improve diversity within their business. While there is still work to be done to improve access to apprenticeships, they can be a powerful tool for increasing minority representation in many sectors, including the tech industry, and enhancing social mobility.
If you only recruit using established methods, such as recruitment firms and graduate schemes, you are likely to be hiring your team from a shallow pool that does not necessarily represent wider society, or your ideal customers. Apprenticeships attract a wide range of people, including young people fresh from school or college, university graduates, and people seeking a career change.
Bringing new faces into the team will bring new ideas and new perspectives to the table and ultimately strengthen your business.
Read More: The Complete Guide to Employing an Apprentice
Benefits of Apprenticeships for Existing Employees
Apprenticeships aren’t just for new hires and junior roles. In 2019-20, 47% of apprenticeship starts were by people aged 25 and over, mostly training people within an existing job role.
At Level 4 and above, apprenticeships can be a powerful and cost-effective tool for professional development. Workforce Development apprenticeships are a great method for on-the-job training and upskilling current staff.
These programmes are tailored to specific job roles, teach the latest industry best practice, and lead to a recognised qualification.
Offering such training opportunities can lead to increased productivity, more efficient workflows, higher staff satisfaction and reduced staff turnover.
Investing in your current employees through a professional development apprenticeship shows your team that they are valued, and that you are committed to helping them grow and advance their career.
Related Blog: What are the Benefits of Training Existing Staff?
Find Out More
Apprenticeships are an amazing way to recruit, train and develop your team, with wide-ranging benefits. Whether you’re looking to increase productivity, create a more diverse workforce, or take control of your digital skills gap, an apprenticeship programme could be the way to go.
To find out more about how an apprentice could fit into your team, browse our programmes, check out current funding opportunities, or get in touch with our team of specialist consultants.