Learning and Development - Example

Name: Instructor’s name Institution Subject 20th September 2011 “Employers commit to raise employees skills and competences to improve company/organization performance through investing in economically valuable training and development”. Introduction It is often said that the road to a long term growth will be rocky but to be able to put up with the hardships along the way, there is great need to have a workforce that is armed with the right skills to be able to forge the way forward as well as be able to overcome the various obstacles that are found along the growth path (Gibb, 2007). With the situation that has led to various economies reducing their spending, and consumers continuing to feel the pinch there is need to shift the focus into a winning business investment to be able to have the various sectors be it public or private into a recovery. This is in most times done through companies as well as organizations investing in economically valuable training and development such as us employer’s committing to raising employees skills and competences (Secretary of State for Innovation, 2007). However much organizations and companies put in to see a full recovery from hardships it is necessary for to have the right mix of skills that are essential possessed by the employees to be able to stay ahead of the competitors. With a spotlight shining to different business communities to have a commitment to the learning and the development of its people, real challenges lay ahead (Harrison, 2009). Raising the skills of employees is in the employers own interests which places the situation of criticizing from the sidelines not acceptable for businesses and much less when they do not get the skills that they need. This is why most of the employers embark on the processes of ensuring that their employees are armed with the right skills. From various studies done on various companies and organization around the world, it is found out that a significant number of employers invest in a significant amount of resources and also time to ensure that that there is a growth in the skills of their staff members and again it also found cases of the learning activity falling below the radar of official measurement. It is even clearer thought that employers are even much ready to meet the call for an even better skill and even a more competitive workforce (Harrison, 2009). Overview This skills pledge was produced by Lord Sandy Leitch back in the year 2007. It was created on the notion of the United Kingdom organizations skill levels that had become fundamentally weak. With research indicating that the United Kingdom is the fifth largest economy in the whole world that has a total of five million adults who happen to lack in sufficient literacy skills and another greater number struggling with the fundamental numeracy skills (DENHAM, 2010). The growing opinions that the United Kingdom should urgently develop skills that will enable it compete with the economy of tomorrow (Peacock, 2007). With the acquisition of new technology, there has been a further push on the skill needs which keep on changing. Nevertheless, the ever growing requirement for improved customer satisfaction has greatly influenced the employers ensuring that the employee’s skills and competencies help in a great way to improve the organizational performance. Studies have over time shown that business investment in training delivers positive returns. A study undertaken in the United Kingdom estimates that the impact of training on performance in a number of Industries, this was done over the period between 1986 and 1996. The findings of the research concluded that a small percentage increase in the number of people that receive training in any particular industry resulted to an increase in the value added for every depending on the percentage of people who received training. For instance if the number was increased by 1%, then the value added increases by 0.6% while the wages increase by a 0.3% (Coffield, 2008). There also exist surveys that support the academic evidence which are on the employer opinion showing that businesses are of the belief that training delivers productive outcomes for the organization/company. Moreover, the employers are found to do an assessment on the impact of the training in their businesses, this information they say cab be useful when trying to demonstrate the value of investing on training the employees or when decided on what method of training one wishes to apply (Kathrin Hoeckel etal, 2009). This leads to the employers quantifying the effect of training on a range of business indicators that include effect on an individual performance, the quality of the output, cost revenue generation and efficiency, engagement of employees and retention, and above all the impact of the attractiveness of the organization/company to new employees and recruits. Strengths of the Training The benefits of a skilled workforce to an organization/company are proven; adaptability, flexibility, greater profitability and higher productivity. For this reason, more and more employers are asked to recognize and also invest in a literate and a numerate workforce as means of thriving and surviving in the ever increasing competitive global economy. DIUS in 2009 worked with partners to launch a marketing campaign which was aimed at raising employer awareness and also the understanding of the importance of the skills for life not forgetting the way they can address the skills needs that would support their employees as well as their business (Innovation Nation, 2008). On one hand, the government departments and agencies were to promote skills for life training opportunities through public procurement policies, they would do this by requiring that there were successful contractors that would give their employees access to literacy. According to Leitch, better skills and the economically valuable qualifications is a route to achieving a better job, higher income and career progression. This means having efficient ways to support their families. It is also known that better skills are the key to greater social mobility, which ensures that individuals are able to get on because of their talent as well as hard work, but it is not just because of their background (Hall, 2010). For the employers, a more highly skilled workforce is the best route to achieving a higher productivity and if this is achieved in the public sector there is greater profitability and competitiveness. Benefits of this are all rounder since even the communities are not left out. Communities benefit from better skills by the creation of an escape route from that generation of low achievement and also that of low ambition (Hall, 2010). Challenges in trying to fulfill the aspirations In the understanding Human Resource and Development as well as the culture of learning organizations, I will in a broad way try to give man outline of the key challenges that are presented by the aspirations of skills pledge. To start with I will look at the challenge that is posed to the government as well as the employers in the name of the learning barriers that they face with their employers. On the other hand, there is the financial leeway that the organization will have in term of the investments that they are able to commit too (Coffield, 2008). For the skills pledge to be a successful project, there will be the great need for organizations to create a promise and a sign on in order for the learning development initiative to be an effective one. According to the aspirations, there is need for the public sector to increase the training; this is in order to fit in with government policies. In essence, what this is will do is that it will ideally lead to all private sector companies committing to the pledge so as to provide all the employees with an opportunity and a chance to develop and learn new ideas and knowledge for a better performance in the work (Coffield, 2008). Another challenge that faces the aspirations is the changing culture in relation to skills. There is need to embed the value skills in our culture so as it is flexible to be able to accommodate the changes that are found in the current generation. There is needed to make individuals feel that it is their responsibility to improve their skills and doing this is a challenge in itself. They need to feel the need t improve their skills throughout their lives; this is because of the benefits that it will bring for them and their families. And on this note, as employers invest in the skills of their employees, there is also the need for them to take the responsibility that investing in the skills of their employees will deliver (Kathrin Hoeckel etal, 2009). The deliverables are the profitability and productivity that is associated with the desired skills training. Once the employers take their responsibility, they are assured by the governments like in the cases of England and Wales who accept the responsibility to offer support to them. This aspiration also happens to be faced with the challenge of the meaning of employer engagement being very fluid. For this reason the priorities need to be set for the employer engagement where it should be clearly defined while at the same time governments of England and Wales setting out the rationale for seeking the engagement (Coffield, 2008). The evidence on employer engagement should also have further development. As a way of seeing the aspirations being reached, the fragmented surveys need to be incorporated as far as possible and as they see consolidation they should also be well coordinated. This is to help and achieve results. According to Dius 2007, despite the government’s efforts in trying to increase the investment of employers in their employee’s skills, a 35 percent of the employers there are offer no training to their employees; this covers more than a quarter of the workforce. According to Dius report, a further six per cent only offer induction or just health and or safety training. For this reason there is need for a different type of engagement to be able to overcome the challenge brought about by this to the aspiration. For this reason, governments as well as employers should be bonded and the government should ask the employers to increase their role in the skills and learning and also engage them in other policy areas (Dius, 2007). Despite the fact that employers have rhetorically been placed at the centre stage, and also an unprecedented influence, there are difficulties with the mechanisms in which the views are represented such as those of the heterogeneous group as employers. Moreover, there are challenges that are evident from the fact that the latest in the long line of initiatives have so far proved unsuccessful is the skills pledge which was launched in 2007. This is where as the aspiration states that employers voluntarily have a commitment with their firms where they invest in the skills of employees (Dius, 2007). From this, few their countries have been able to achieve a strong employer engagement without have a strong apprenticeship system, this has remained elusive in England and Wales. Given the complexity and volatility found in the VET system to a great extent hinder employer engagement, there is need to have the VET system institutions become simplified as well as stabilized. This will mean welcoming the proposals and support from the UK commission for employment and skills sustaining and further developing the proposals. The aspiration on the other hand is face with another challenge of that very few countries have achieved a strong employer engagement without there being an equally strong apprenticeship system. In the cases of England and Wales despite there being some advances it is known that apprenticeship is not a common practice like it is common in other countries and in this regards the dropout cases rate higher. The Leitch targets will also require very strong leads from t he governments where employers have the aspirations for investing in employee skills. On the other hand, the policy structures are both more complex and again more unstable. This is in regards in the cases of Wales and England as compared to other OECD countries. This as a challenge inhibits employer engagement. Once this happens we find that the aspirations of employers investing in the skills of their employees (Kathrin Hoeckel etal, 2009). More to these challenges, the Leitch report where there is a demand driven system. For instance, when it comes to increasing the skills so as to ensure that there is better integration of skills and employment, this raises the need for there to be government funding and the systems to be increasingly demand led (Kathrin Hoeckel etal, 2009).. This in turn brings out the expectation those colleges, universities as well as others training providers who have the responsibility of supplying education and also training to be increasingly responsive so as to attend to the needs of the learners and also to actually what the employment market needs. This posses the challenge of an existing of a link which ensure that all these sectors work and function hand in hand with one another (Hall, 2010). Moreover, is there is an assumption that there is a substantial base of data and analysis, this fact remains fragmented with an inadequate attention to the international experience, there is need to have a training that is international experience conscious so as to be able to diversify as well as adopt to different needs which include the international ones. On this note, the current economic downtown is proving to be a real and tough challenge since it is imposing a number of pressures on the skills of the system. This is making hard the situation and which the skills were expected to thrive in for efficiency (Innovation Nation, 2008). Conclusion For the aspiration to be achieved there is need for giving priorities on employer engagement where these priorities are clearly defined while at the same time setting out the rationale for seeking engagement of England and Wales. Wherever there is evidence on employer engagement, there is great need for further development. With the complexity and volatility in the VET system which is known to hinder employer engagement. There is need to simplify the VET system so as to make it more stable. Moreover, as a way of fully engaging the employers in efforts to meet the skills targets that have been identified in the Leitch report, governments should explore measures that would also include that aimed at reducing the cost of the training. On the other hand, an establishment of strong evidence base which would in turn encourage employer support for the training and also possibly use the compulsive measures which may include training levies. Adopting international evidences in England and Wales more routinely in the policy making is another important aspect of achieving the aspirations. Works Cited Coffield, F. (2008). Improving learning, skills and inclusion: the impact of policy on post-compulsory education. Routledge. DENHAM, J. (2010). Skills for Life. Changing live , p. 164. Department for Innovation, Universities & Skills. (2008, May). Innovation Nation. Retrieved September 20, 2011, from Department for Innovation, Universities & Skills: http://tna.europarchive.org/20080523130328/http://dius.dialoguebydesign.net/rp/ScienceInnovation_web.pdf Gibb, S. (November 2007). Human Resource Development Processes, Practices and Perspectives. Glasgow: Palgrave Macmillan. Hall, K. (2010). Business investment in skills. Retrieved September 20, 2011, from CBI: http://educationandskills.cbi.org.uk/uploaded/Business%20investment%20in%20skills_August%202011.pdf Harrison, R. (March 2009). Learning and Development. London: CIPD. Kathrin Hoeckel, M. C. (2009, October). Learning for Jobs OECD Reviews of Vocational Education and Training. Retrieved September 20, 2011, from OECD: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/32/8/43947857.pdf Secretary of State for Innovation. (2007, July). Implementing the Leitch Review of Skills in England. Retrieved September 20, 2011, from World Class Skills: http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm71/7181/7181.pdf Read More