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Apprenticeships Lack Education, Not Esteem
The last few weeks have been an anxious time for young people; with many receiving their highly anticipated A level and GCSE grades. The cost of University and the wider opportunities for young people came under the spotlight during the last general election, XLN for small business believe that one path for young people was not emphasised enough – Apprenticeships.
New research from XLN shows that 77% of businesses do not feel they fully understand the laws and protocol surrounding taking on apprentices, this is despite the same percentage seeing the positive value that apprenticeships can bring to apprentices and business. The government is supportive of apprenticeships, offering businesses (particularly SMEs) many benefits when hiring apprentices, so with the clear support for apprenticeships why aren’t apprenticeships front-of-mind for small businesses and school leavers?
Christian Nellemann, Founder and CEO of XLN comments: “The cost of hiring one full-time employee is often greater than the annual profit of a typical British small business. But how do your grow if you can’t afford to hire anyone? It’s a concept that’s as old as any business idea, but the value and benefit of an apprenticeship is not being sufficiently publicised. You can also expect to get the formal training aspect of the apprenticeship covered by the government – plus a £1000 ‘incentive fee so long as your wage bill is less than £3 million, and I’m guessing if you’re a ‘small business’ it is. This research suggests that the publicity surrounding apprenticeships is not sufficient in educating businesses on the protocol of hiring apprentices, likewise it would seem that many young people see work or University as their only options”.
Interestingly 19% of 18-24 year olds would choose to go to University if they had to make a decision now, whereas a quarter of 25-34 year olds would choose an apprenticeship, so to avoid the high cost of University preferring to ‘earn and learn’. Across the age brackets (18-55+) 51% agree that practical experience is more advantageous in the workplace than academic experience, with only 33% of respondents believing a degree is essential to climb the ladder in most workplaces.
Overall, the research revealed that both the public and businesses view apprenticeships positively and agree that hands on experience is often superior to academic experience in the work place. However, there seems to be a deficit of effective conversation and publicity surrounding apprenticeships amongst educational establishments, the public and businesses. This is something Nellemann hopes to address in line with point two on his manifesto to the government to save the high street – 2. “Recruitment is necessary for growth”.
“It’s always been our ambition to do more than simply save small businesses money. We want to help them grow too – and XLN Wi-Fi is testament to that. It’s levelling the playing field for small businesses.” Comments Christian.