Why a medium-sized company should invest time and money in an apprentice?
To answer this question, the European Alliance for Apprenticeships (EAfA) has published a document, the title of which is “10 good reasons for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to invest in apprenticeships”.
In fact, many small and medium-sized enterprises are not aware of the benefits of hiring apprentices. And among other things, they also face a number of problems that prevent them from responding to the challenges posed by apprenticeships, including: the lack of employees dedicated to training and language barriers.
With this document, EAfA also aims to show small and medium-sized companies that they can receive help and support to make the process of hiring apprentices as easy as possible.
Here are the 10 good reasons:
1. Apprenticeships create a win-win situation for both apprentices and companies.
2. Apprenticeships help businesses to develop a pool of highly skilled employees, tailored to the specific needs of the enterprise.
3. Apprenticeships create loyal employees and increase the continuity of worker, reduce turnover rates, increase productivity in the medium and long run and lower the cost of recruitment.
4. Apprentices bring new ideas and perspectives to their learning workplace and contribute to an inspiring workplace culture.
5. The collaboration between the apprentice and the in-company trainer can improve employee retention and become a positive model for intergenerational cooperation.
6. Apprenticeships can boost the diversity among staff, contributing to a more open and inclusive work culture, to a better company image, and thus to a better job satisfaction of employees.
7. Apprentices can improve the company’s ability to innovate, since they can bring in fresh ideas from attending local training centres or technical colleges.
8. Apprenticeship schemes have an emphasis on safety training and will therefore contribute to a safer workplace.
9. The initial costs of investing in new apprentices can be reduced by financial support coming from different sources (regional, national and EU level).
10. Many SMEs see an administrative burden in recruiting apprentices or the training of qualified workers to supervise the apprentices. However, it should be noted that public authorities, public employment services, chambers, other intermediary bodies and also social partners often offer non-financial support (e.g. guidelines, toolkits, matching apprentices to companies) to reduce this burden.