Let them go home that little earlier, let the filing wait for Monday, don’t be so demanding with those endless tea requests because this week is National Apprenticeship Week.

Co-ordinated by the National Apprenticeship Service, the week-long event aims to raise the profile of Apprenticeships and the opportunities it can offer young people in a generation of record breaking unemployment levels. Apprenticeships are rapidly becoming a very viable and beneficial solution for Employers, enabling them to potentially gain long term employees trained specifically for their sectors. Any Business that endorses apprenticeships should be celebrated, here are a few useful facts to consider if you are considering Apprentice recruitment:

• While it seems comparatively inexpensive to employ an Apprentice (NMW-£2.68 per hour), businesses should also consider the time and cost of supporting, mentoring and training any young worker.

• Apprentices are employed under an Apprenticeship contract. There is a legislative difference in simply employing a young employee and the £2.68 NMW would not stand.

• Employers are under no obligation to only pay the £2.68, many companies will pay more.

• The Government offer Grants to SME’s to assist in recruitment and training of Apprentices(AGE 16-24)

• Studies have found that costs of Apprenticeship Schemes are recuperated very quickly having developed a skilled specialist worker.

As an employer of Apprentices ourselves , Dataplan wholly endorses this year’s slogan “Great Businesses are made by apprentices and Apprenticeships lead to Great Prospects”.

For Further details on apprenticeships click here

Written by Stewart Waddell
Published on March 9, 2014