Britains bosses urged to go back to school

As children up and down the country prepare for the return to their classrooms after the long summer break, Bibby Financial Services is urging Britainís bosses to go back to school in order to address the deepening skills crisis.

A skilled workforce is the key to a successful economy, yet Britain is suffering from a severe lack of trained workers and the situation looks set to get worse as investment in staff development remains static or declines.

A recent report found that one in five UK workers do not have the ability to do their jobs properly and 20% of job vacancies are unfilled due to a severe lack of skilled employees*.

However, despite the damaging lack of skills in the workforce and the fact that this is costing the UK economy some 10bn a year**, Britainís small business owners and managers are not doing anything to help themselves.

Research from Bibby Financial Services found that the amount of money small businesses spend on staff training in an average year is extremely low with 41% of firms spending less than 1,000. Somewhat surprisingly, a quarter of small businesses admit to spending no money on staff training at all***.

According to David Robertson, Chief Executive of Bibby Financial Services something urgently needs to be done to tackle this issue. He says, ìthe phrase ëyou just canít get the staff these daysí has never rang truer. The widening skills gap is a problem that affects every business regardless of size or sector. There are many reasons why the problem is now at epidemic proportions and we can blame the trend towards young people shunning apprentice schemes in favour of university places and the failure of educational institutions to meet the demands of local labour markets. However, the crux of the matter is that there are still plenty of things that owners and managers can do to help improve the situation.

ìIt is vital that small business owners and managers continue to help themselves and their business by developing their own skills and those of their staff by going ëback to schoolí and providing appropriate levels of training.

In order to help, David Robertson has developed the following practical steps that bosses can take to improve training standards in their business.

(1)Identify training needs - as with any investment, focus training on the
areas where you can reap the biggest rewards. You may be aware of a skills shortage or the fact that one part of the business is more wasteful than others or have noticed an increase in customer complaints.

(2)Set training objectives - keep any training course relevant and focused
by setting SMART (specific, measurable, agreed, realistic and time-limited) goals.

(3)Get staff to commit - the key to training success is to get your staff
involved. Make sure you win employeeís support by explaining the need for it, outlining the objectives and explaining the benefits to them.

(4)Have a plan - draw up a training plan to define the structure and
outcomes you want from the training. This will ensure that the training programme stays on track and achieves all your required objectives.

(5)Buy wisely - work out what you and your staff really need to learn and
research carefully for suitable courses. Training does not have to involve expensive residential courses. A trainer could visit your premises and train up a number of different staff at the same time.

(6)Consult an expert - an external trainer is a specialist who can bring
you up to date with current best practice as well as bring fresh ideas and energy into the learning process.

(7)Maximise any spend - Take advantage of the fact that employees will be
fired up and motivated after a training course. Encourage them to present what they have learned to other team members and ensure that new, better techniques are adopted throughout the business.

(8)Training costs - Good training can be expensive but it neednít always
cost the earth. Explore other cost effective routes such as local further education colleges, Training & Enterprise Councils as well as training materials such as videos and CD-ROMS. Contact your local Business Link office to find out what government grants and funding is available for small businesses.

(9)Keep up the good work - Complement any external training with a good,
in-house training programme. This can consist of on-the-job training, job shadowing as well as mentoring and coaching.

(10)Evaluate and review - Always review any training to see if it achieved your objectives. Carefully monitor improvements in the performance of the business and always ask for feedback from employees on their training experience.

David Robertson concludes, ìTraining costs time and money, however, as the skills gap continues to widen, the provision of training and development has become a business imperative. The additional skills, confidence and loyalty that training brings to a business will reap huge benefits and there is little doubt that ëgoing back to schoolí will deliver a significant return on investment.î