Technical and vocational learning qualifications have never been more important to businesses, the economy and employees.
Regardless of the size or type of your business, vocational qualifications can have a measurable impact on the productivity, performance and profit of your business. The term ‘vocational’ means ‘work-related’, so if individuals are studying a vocational qualification it means they are learning skills that will help them get and/or do a job.
Benefits for your Business
Vocational qualifications can help you develop the skills your business needs. These qualifications focus on choice, clarity and confidence and bring real benefits to employers.
“78% of employers agreed that qualifications provide quality assurance for customers and that the benefits outweighed the time, money and effort invested in obtaining them.”
Chartered Management Institute
Higher Productivity and Efficiency
Vocational programmes that meets both employer and employee needs can increase the quality and flexibility of a business’s services through:
- efficiency increases
- good work practices – improved quality/standards/safety
- better customer service
- productivity improvements
- greater flexibility and responsiveness to change
- waste reduction
At Exponential Training, our vocational qualification programmes are designed with employers in mind and are relevant to their daily business needs. Accredited qualifications also provide external validation for the quality of your workforce.
Lower Staff Turnover
A positive attitude towards continuous professional development (CPD) fosters an organisation culture of continuous improvement. Qualifications also provide reassurance about people’s confidence and competence which in turn helps employees reach their potential and feel valued.
“97% of employers said that qualifications led to better trained employees and 88% said that qualifications enhanced staff motivation.”
Institute of Directors
Employees who are encouraged to gain formal qualifications within their role feel valued, supported and engaged with their organisation. This leads to greater loyalty, employee retention and a reduction in absenteeism.
Increased Performance and Profits
Having a well-trained workforce can be of great value to your business. Vocational qualifications can help show you whether training targets are being met and help you assess the skills development of individual workers. In turn, achieving qualifications can offer a benchmark for setting reward levels: a better-trained employee is likely to help improve the profitability of the business.
“Over 85% of managers agreed their management and leadership qualification improved their performance and by transferring their new skills to the work place, almost all have seen a vast improvement in their teams’ performance too.”
Chartered Management Institute
At Exponential Training, we believe that the greatest productivity gains are achieved where employers are actively supporting learners to ensure the practical application of learning in the workplace.
Reduce the Need for Supervision
Untrained and under-qualified employees can be a drain on an organisation’s resources and distract your best people from more urgent and important tasks. A professional qualification programme can provide employees with the skills and confidence to tackle problems independently.
Benefits for your Employees
As well as the benefits for businesses, there are of course numerous benefits for your employees.
Formalise Skills and Experience
Within an organisation there may be some employees who do not have any formal qualifications and have ‘worked their way up’ into a more senior role. For these employees, the opportunity to formalise the skills and experience they have acquired over the years provides confirmation of their achievements and allows them to build on their experiences.
Increased Confidence
Whilst studying towards a vocational qualification, employees not only acquire new skills but they are also encouraged to embed the learning and development into the workplace. This increase in their contribution to the business and building their self-esteem and confidence in the role will also impact positively on the performance of the organisation.
Improved Motivation
By enrolling your employees on a vocational qualification they have the opportunity to be upskilled to do new and different tasks, helping them to feel motivated and fresh at all times.
In addition, employees who are offered training on your time see that you value them enough to invest in them. A good company is seen as one that retrains rather than churns.
Promotion, Progression and Pay
It is not a mandatory requirement to be in a certain job role in order to complete a vocational qualification. This means that individuals who are aspiring for progression within their career can study qualifications which provides them with more stretch and can take them into other positions within an organisation: positions which may offer better prospects and/or better pay.
Have your Say!
At Exponential Training, we have over 15 years experience working with and improving the performance of organisations and individuals in over 50 different countries around the world. We have delivered vocational qualification programmes to hundreds of Managers, Coaches and Consultants and would love to hear from you regarding your perceived benefits and experiences as both an employer and/or employee.
Join in the discussion by leaving a comment below and if you would like to find out more information regarding VQ Day, please visit http://www.vqday.org.uk.
