+44 (0) 0207 495 5110 info@gingernuttraining.co.uk

Employer Engagement Policy (TEST)

Document Title Employer Engagement
Originator Director
Date of Approval August 2024
Responsible Person Petra Lahtinen-Kalsi
Policy Due for Renewal August 2025
Version 10.2.0

Introduction

Engagement for new and existing clients is managed by a senior director within the business who leads client onboarding, supported by the Client Engagement and Client Admin teams, and staff at all levels of the business as required. It is our passion to help and support businesses to actively engage with the apprenticeship scheme to grow their business through training new staff and upskilling existing staff where appropriate.

We believe in making sure learners are entered into the right apprenticeship courses, that clients are informed of their responsibility and that the government funds are used appropriately.

Aim

Our aim is to:

  • Support employers to create new opportunities, and improve the skills of their workforce (existing and new) by providing appropriate training and qualifications
  • Provide online monitoring, visibility and support around learner progress
  • Deliver dedicated account management providing regular updates and support
  • Provide appropriate training needs analysis
  • Provide appropriate information, advice and guidance regarding off the Job training, alternative apprenticeship programs, apprenticeship processes etc.
  • Participate in, and lead, webinars and industry updates
  • Advertise apprenticeship vacancies on behalf of employers

Employer Engagement

Our courses are promoted on the “find an apprenticeship service scheme” and other branded sites. We only promote courses we can deliver and have expertise within.

We use our experience as an employer to help clients fulfill their apprenticeship needs, navigate the funding system and to be aware of their commercial responsibilities. We aim to respond to clients and learners in a speedy and professional manner by:

  • Responding to client requests and supporting their needs. Where the requirements reside outside our expertise area, we signpost to appropriate resources such as government guidance websites and respectable third parties.
  • Our goal is to respond to initial enquiries within an hour via email and phone, and we follow up regularly.
  • If clients call, we always aim to speak to them immediately. However, if we cannot talk to them at once, we call them back and send them a message with information relevant to their query. Additionally, we suggest a call to find out more about their needs, plans, expectations, and their role.
  • Seldom do we engage in targeting businesses through ‘cold calling’ as our focus is on responding to enquiries generated through our inbound marketing strategy. However, when we reach out to potential clients, we do so from the perspective of wanting to help them with apprenticeships and follow professional conduct when doing so.
  • We engage via face-to-face meetings and video and telephone calls, over e-mail, through the website, via conferences and awareness days, through tenders and through referrals by 3rd parties and current and previous clients.

Apprenticeship Planning and Delivery

We offer tailored support to learners and employers to better align training to the individual workplace. This includes working with employers to identify skill gaps and bridging such gaps with targeted training. This can be done by:

  • Creating a joint onboarding experience with learners, tutors, and employers to ensure that the tutors are aware of learner and business needs, and that the employers and learner know their role and responsibilities.
  • We consult with line managers and HR leads at the start of the process to review and adjust content of courses to the requirements of the business. By getting to know the company’s organizational strategy we ensure that the learner behaviors are aligned with organizational values. We work with learners to analyse, understand, and reinforce behaviors and values during training sessions and observations. Learners will thus see the link between what they do and wider business goals.
  • Our support for the respective clients depends on the standard, the individual’s role and the needs of the learner and the employer. Each support package is designed to meet all assessments and criteria relating to the standard.
  • Our quality and progress reporting, and the frequency of reporting can be tailored to meet the needs of the individual organization in question. This is agreed prior to the learner and the organization commencing the apprenticeship and is reviewed throughout the process.
  • We passionately believe in engaging with line managers throughout the course. The reason for this is that the more the tutor understands the job role and the dynamics, the better they can support the learner to achieve their personal best. Line managers can regularly feed into course planning, through the planning meeting before the apprenticeship commences and via regular review meetings with the learner and the assigned tutor.

Course Checking and Promotion

The level of support offered to employers is based on their unique needs. The process steps are described below.

The Initial Enquiry

  • Understand business goals, dynamics, and role
  • Understand staff motivation
  • Understand team structure
  • Explain challenges and viable solutions and re-check against expectations
  • Send details of selected courses

Promotional Support (if required)

  • Webinars/meetings/video calls to introduce standards to management and stakeholders
  • Provide promotional materials
  • Webinars/meetings with potential learners

Internal Applicants for Apprenticeship

  • Job description check
  • Telephone conversation with line manager
  • Eligibility checks (skills scan, CV, PLR, residency etc.)
  • Where necessary, tutor skills assessment call

External Applicants

  • Job description check
  • Telephone conversation with line manager
  • Once job advert completed, uploaded to gov Apprenticeship site
  • Strong recommendation for additional promotion
  • If advertise job on their behalf, then regular interaction and support
  • Once employer has shortlist of candidates then initial eligibility checks
  • Full eligibility check before the applicant is offered the role
  • If required, follow up with tutor to check knowledge, skills, behaviors

Roles and Responsibilities

Client Team

  • Account Management
  • Relationship Building
  • Networking
  • New and existing clients
  • Strategic Monitoring
  • Complaints/Compliments

Enrolment

  • Eligibility checks
  • Onboarding and access
  • Planning meetings and FDOLs
  • Evidence collection and review
  • Operational monitoring

Service Delivery

  • Employer/Apprentice reviews
  • Off the job monitoring
  • Operational monitoring
  • Relationship management

As a small business our culture and ethics are shared across the team with a focus on supporting employers in creating learning opportunities for new and existing employees and getting back to clients quickly and efficiently with clear, accurate and relevant information. We do this by:

  • Delivering monthly status updates for clients detailing the learner’s progress. This is to make sure that any issues are flagged and tracked, and the learners are provided with unique support, and to maintain a regular dialogue with the employer.
  • Delivering monthly reporting to stakeholders to provide visibility and control
  • Celebrating external and internal successes
  • We set managers up with Observer access to our OneFile system, so that they can generate their own progress reports. Employers find it a useful tool as it provides visibility and control. This is supplementary to the main management information provision.
  • Each client has a named Account Manager and a deputy account manager available over phone, email or face-to-face to support and coordinate employer and learner requests. Furthermore, they function as an additional feedback loop for employers and learners. The Account Management team consists of the Business Directors and an Experienced Client Engagement Team and will thus be able to support employees by responding quickly, providing needs-based solutions, and taking appropriate decisions.

We are passionate about our learners and employers and give them our full focus. We want to remain as flexible as possible to ensure an optimum learner journey and great customer service. Since we are nimble, dynamic, and adaptable, we adjust according to learner and employer needs and offer a personalized service.

Monitoring

Our aim is to identify and resolve issues before they are escalated. All learning is tracked through OneFile and we run monthly checks against learner progress to identify people who are falling behind and/or may need additional support. Any concerns are flagged to our tutors who update us on the status and a resolution is agreed. Where necessary this will be flagged to the learner’s line manager or to the appropriate HR/L&D contact for additional support.

We use monitored group email addresses for client and learner communication, thus any issues are immediately picked up, handled effectively and in a timely manner, and the monitored inboxes provide constant access to client communication, allowing efficient contingency planning. Importantly, it means that the Directors and Senior management have full visibility and control over any issues, can track the resolution process and that all the clients and learners receive a prompt and relevant reply.

Our aim is to respond to clients on the same day as receiving any complaint / problem. We investigate any issue and work towards a speedy and effective resolution that will benefit all parties. Our aim is to resolve any issues within 2 weeks but, but we aim to be as quick and effective as possible. Please see our Complaints and Appeals process below.

Responding to Queries

Our aim is to get back to clients within an hour. The client engagement Team would manage it by talking through questions and issues with new and existing clients whereas the enrolment and the delivery Team would support in relation to learner specific or program related questions and requests. We respond via email cc’ing info@gingernuttraining.co.uk or delivery@gingernuttraining.co.uk to ensure that there is full visibility of communication and responses, thus the appropriate teams are kept in the loop.

We pride ourselves in continuously harnessing, monitoring and improving employer engagement through cyclical reviews, regular feedback from employers through various channels and media, learner and employer surveys, and the complaints data usage for training and to improve processes.

Salesforce (CRM) ensures that clients are spoken to regularly and that relevant notes are made according to internal and external policies. This tool records notes from the conversations and contacts in a GDPR compliant fashion.

Additionally, we report on delivery performance % progress, off-the-job hours, next meetings, and everything to do with the program through OneFile. Here we give clients live logins to view all information instantaneously and use the platform in regular meetings to run through things.

Regular review meetings are held over the phone and Teams with learners, line managers and tutors. Senior Management from various Teams participate as needed. Contact details and escalation points are shared with clients and learners regularly.

All standard email templates link to our website and other resources for further support.