Analysis

Work-based training is widely accepted as a productive way for the industry to upskill its workforce. However, getting funding for such schemes is often a difficult task. The government will only make money available for training that is part of nationally recognised qualification, leading many small businesses to question whether they are being short-changed. Prin­ters are now joining the Federation of Small Bus­inesses (FSB) in demanding that their on-the-job training is formally recognised.

The FSB, the UK’s largest business organisation, has welcomed the government’s focus on improving skills, but recently conducted a survey of just under 20,000 small businesses that found that nearly four out of five (76.4%) said they already offered formal training.

Colin Willman, FSB’s education and skills chairman, says: “The government could certainly do a lot more to make it easier for small employers to get the on-the-job training they already offer accredited. At the moment, the process is too expensive and too bureaucratic for many small businesses to cope with.”

Ministerial support
John Denham, the secretary of state for innovation, universities and skills, has voiced his support for FSB. He is calling for employees to be given the right to request time to train and has launched a consultation on the subject.

The upshot is that if printers gain official recognition for their in-house training schemes, they could get finan­cial backing from the government’s Train to Gain scheme.

Some printers are already ahead of the game when it comes to bespoke on-the-job training. Jon Bailey, sales director at ProCo, started a scheme in May 2007 through which staff training needs are identified by a process of detailed analysis of company performance figures.

Members of the company’s 96-strong workforce are shown company performance charts and encouraged to analyse how their performance has affected the figures. Any area of weakness identified can flag up the need for more training.

He says: “ProCo is a very open company and has always tried to ensure everybody is in touch with performance and activity levels. This scheme was intended to take that idea to a new level. This training method works for us because it is so tailored to our needs.”

Cestrian, a Cheshire-based digital printer, also operates an on-the-job training programme covering all aspects of its business. The results are said to be productive, but currently go without formal recognition.

Lee Hewitt, general manager at Cestrian, said: “The FSB’s proposal is something I’d certainly go along with. We find that, by training our staff with people who know the company’s own presses and business structure, our training is truly tailored to our needs and the company gets great results this way.”

Bleak prediction
Proskills, the sector skills council, welcomes the FSB’s calls, but warns that any attempt to issue qualifications is bound to fail. Richard Bloxam, head of marketing communication, says: “Em­­ployers from the print industry, in partnership with Proskills, have already developed a comprehensive bank of training standards. These form the basis of work-based qualifications in all the different areas of printing.”

He adds that, in many cases, the government can part-fund the schemes already, through Train to Gain.

The BPIF takes a similar tack, questioning how much such a scheme would cost. Ruth Exelby, BPIF head of commercial training, is sympathetic to the FSB’s cause and welcomes anything that gets employers’ efforts recognised, as long as the training is of the highest quality.

Using what’s there
Exelby says: “On-the-job training could be mapped onto the already excellent and flexible existing qualification framework. It wouldn’t ne­­cessarily cost small businesses any more than they already spend.”

Simon Briault, a spokesperson for the FSB, does not pretend to have all the answers, but he is keen for the government to work more closely with businesses to acknowledge their efforts. He suggests that a generic form could be sent out to businesses to gauge their level of effort.

Briault adds: “In the print industry, it is particularly important for firms to implement bespoke training to suit their own machines’ requirements. People don’t want to jump through HR hoops to do this. A business would have to pay a lot of money for training courses, but if they are running an efficient one of their own, we feel this should be recognised.”

At present, the government will only finance schemes based on recognised qualifications being achieved, so it is in the industry’s interest to qualify its staff. The FSB has got the cogs turning, but it remains to be seen whether printers will gain the recognition they desire.