NAW 2023: The benefits and impact of apprenticeships for employers

Employer

| Reading time - 5 mins

National Apprenticeship Week 2023

National Apprenticeship Week (NAW) is an annual event that celebrates the achievements of apprentices around the country, and the positive impact they make on businesses.

Now in its 16th year, NAW 2023 is themed around Skills For Life; reflecting on how apprenticeships not only help individuals develop the skills and knowledge required for a rewarding career, but also businesses to develop a talented workforce that's equipped with future-ready skills.

Real apprenticeship impact and benefits

We reached out to some of our employer partners who had apprentices nominated for our NAW Top Tech Talent celebration. Find out how these businesses from across different industries have experienced true impact and benefits from employing digital, data and IT apprentices.

Saving 730 hours annually using data automation

“Our initial aim with appointing an apprentice was to free up time in the department, whilst sharing the experience of the existing members of the department to develop a future data cohort. [Our data analyst apprentice] has not only freed up 2 hours per day automating existing processes but also doubled the availability of data across the organisation and helped this data become available 365 days a year. In short [our apprentice] has saved the organisation circa 730 hours per year within the department and at least as much again externally of the department.”

Lee Clark

Head of Data and Analytics at Atlas Hotels.

Apprenticeships are key to succession planning

“We have a long-standing apprenticeship programme which has proved very successful in providing us with the talent that we require as a business, so much so that we no longer consider graduate entry. We retain the majority of our apprentices and now have former apprentices in senior roles. As a company that seeks to support our local community, we see our apprentice programme as part of this.”

Philip Dear

Operations Manager at projectfive

A £100k incremental revenue benefit

“The skills and confidence [our digital marketing apprentice] has gained so far from the apprenticeship has allowed me to merge two roles into one, so saving an FTE. If I could put a value on the KPI improvement of the CRM programme [she’s been working on] I'd say there's £100k incremental revenue benefit at least. And she's only just getting started on B2B comms where we're targeting £250k plus accounts so she is absolutely one of our MVPs.”

Tim Morris

Head of Marketing at Europcar Mobility Group

Loyal team members with innovative ideas

“Previous apprentices have brought new ideas to the group and also a thirst for progressing and learning. Slotting into vacant positions when available and reducing the need for upskilling external candidates, they also have a sense of loyalty which benefits the team and the business.”

Dave Woodward

Technology Manager at Telent

Futureproofing through a talent pipeline

“By utilising apprenticeships, we’re futureproofing VMo2. Providing a range of roles and placements to cover a range of technical knowledge, skills and experience to provide an entry-level talent pipeline for technical expertise and leadership.”

Tony Player

Sales Engineer at Virgin Media O2 Business

Apprenticeships are not only a fantastic solution to attract local talent and support the development of a talent pipeline, but by streamlining processes through the innovative new ideas that apprentices bring to the table.

Want to know more about the benefits of apprenticeships? From free recruitment, improved business productivity and government funding, find out more on our employer page.