Skills for Growth is a strategic workforce planning and development initiative offered by the Victorian Government that gives Victorian-based small and medium businesses the opportunity to access employee training resources and expert business management consultants. The program’s objective is to help the owners of small and medium businesses attain higher levels of success by identifying the key objectives and goals of their businesses and assessing and addressing skills shortages in thier workforce.
Key benefits that the Skills for Growth program is meant to create for participating businesses include:
- Superior business performance and productivity
- Increased workforce efficiency and effectiveness
- Increased capability to innovate
- Broader range of employee skills
- Decreased costs
Ultimately, all of the benefits listed above are meant to show up on the business’ bottom line in the form of increased profits.
Skills for Growth Program Background
Because the Government of Victoria recognised the fact that small and medium businesses are the key driver of the state’s economy – they make up about ninety nine percent of all businesses and employ around one milliion people – they decided to create and fund – to the tine of $52 million – the Skills for Growth program in an effort to ensure their continued competitiveness and growth.
The Skills for Growth program was rolled out in April of 2009 with a panel of 25 different Service Providers – who were chosen after the conclusion of a lengthy evaluation process – that have been approved to provide – working in tandem with workforce planning and training Specialists – accredited training to businesses that sign up for the program.
Skills for Growth Program Structure
After a business registers with the Skills for Growth program (which can be done by visiting the website at www.business.vic.gov.au/skillsforgrowth) and selects a Service Provider that best suits its needs, the Service Provider assigns an independent workforce planning and training Specialist who contacts the business owner and arranges for an on-site visit.
It’s necessary for workforce planning and training Specialists to have completed a Training and Assessment (TAA) course, as well as an accredited training course in Assess Informal Learning (AIL), a prerequisite for which is the completion of several units from Certificate IV.
There are basically two phases to the Skills for Growth program.
Phase 1
The first phase of the program involves a workforce planning and training Specialist carrying out a business review that leads to the development of a workforce development plan. A workforce development plan details, among other things, opportunities for upskilling the workforce and makes recommendations for training.
Following is a high-level overview of the key steps to phase one:
- The completion of a business review that plots out the business’ strategic direction and identifies key business needs
- The assessment of the skill and developmental needs of the business’ employees as they tie in with the business’ overall strategy
- The development of a Workforce Training and Action Plan that details the business and employee capability needs and that also provides recommendations for relevant training courses and learning opportunities
There are no costs associated with participating in the first phase.
Phase 2
The second phase of the Skills for Growth program proceeds only if business owners/managers choose to move forward with the training recommendations made by the workforce planning and training Specialist.
Following are the steps to the second phase of the Skills for Growth program:
- Facilitation of staff placement into training with an accredited training organisation
- Completion of a follow-up review after staff have completed training – or have undergone at least three months of training – and of a Skills for Growth report which must be reviewed and approved by the business (any employees hired by the business after the initial review receive individual training plans)
Phase two must be funded by the participating businesses, whose staff may be eligible for the Victorian Training Guarantee, which offers substantial subsidies for placements in recognised vocational training courses. Basic eligibility considerations include: citizenship, residency status, educational background, and age
The Skills for Growth program typically takes four weeks to complete, with the follow-up review generally completed after six months.
Skills for Growth Program Eligibility
The Skills for Growth program is open to all small and medium sized businesses that are based in Victoria. In order to qualify, a business must::
- Employ between 1 to 200 staff
- Have been in operation for at least 12 months
- Be financially viable (effective trading history and ability to meet debts when they fall due)
Obvioulsy, the eligibility standards are designed to ensure that the Skills for Growth program is accessible to as many businesses as possible.
Key Numbers on the Uptake of Skills for Growth
The Skills for Growth program had reached the following milestones as of the end of January 2010:
- 1,648 businesses had registered for the program
- 667 workforce actions plans had been approved by business owners/managers
- 17,934 training plans for employees had been approved by businesses
- 10,488 approved training plans had met VictorianTraining Guarantee eligibility requirements
Obviously, business uptake of the Skills for Growth program has been strong. So, too, have the results that many businesses have seen from their participation in the program, which you can read about in the case studies published on the Business Victoria website.
If you own or manage a Victoria-based business – and your business ticks the other “eligibility boxes” – you should really consider checking out the Skills for Growth program.
