20 years ago, I started my professional career as a trainee at the Leo Burnett communications agency in Budapest. I must admit it had a significant contribution to my future career.
This is why I got my head up when I heard that Burhill Group (UK) will spend an increased £60,000 into its apprenticeship training for 2020. In 2019, the company invested £42,000.
In October 2019, Burhill Group had 15 apprentices across the business, with 5 others in the process of sign-up.
The group’s long-term pledge to advancing the careers of its people also includes the successful internal Manager in Training program, which has placed several key fast-rising leaders within the BGL Group.
BGL’s commitment to development is not reserved just for managerial roles; the group has also developed a training pathway for its Food & Beverage employees, supporting staff in their progression with a mapped-out development pathway to show how training can help them to advance in their career.
In addition, a year ago BGL introduced its own Learning Management System, The Academy, which provides access to more than 900 online courses for over 1000 employees across the group.
Apprenticeship program – benefits & importance
A well-designed apprenticeship program can make a decisive impact on:
- the trainee’s professional career;
- future recruitment: satisfied trainees will share their positive experiences among friends, but also on career sites in reviews (e.g. Glassdoor)
- the apprenticeship program‘s reputation in the industry;
- retention of great talents;
- ease talent shortages (in 2018 in the UK, the hospitality industry faced the biggest labor shortage);
- the future employee’s loyalty and productivity;
- prepare Millennials & Generation Z for their future jobs;
- recruitment costs: Gallup says the cost of replacing an individual employee can range at least from 1.5 to 2 times the employee’s annual salary.
Lodging Magazine said
” the leisure and hospitality industry is now competing with the gig economy to attract candidates who are seeking on-demand work that will fit in with their lifestyle. “
When I am talking about employee experience development, I highlight the importance of real-time mood measurement & analysis of the employees/workforce.
You can use sophisticated employee engagement softwares like Beekeeper, Clarity Wave, Officevibe, Branch Messenger, etc. or simply developing Facebook chatbots for this purpose or even WhatsApp group to gain feedback from your trainees and other employees.
Chatbots can be a great communication channel also for:
- sharing onboarding information/materials;
- review the knowledge they gained via training by quizzes;
- sharing company FAQ;
- reporting: events, problems, task execution;
- improve our apprenticeship program by enabling the trainees to give feedback in real-time;
Let’s not forget to understand what causes engagement. The CAUSE is EX; the EFFECT is an engaged workforce.