Business / ‘Recruiting great staff has not been an issue’, says childcare manager
Decent pay and attractive vocational careers are key
THE FOUNDER of a local childcare provider has emphasised the importance of apprenticeships in developing a skilled workforce when contributing to a major new report on the future of work.
Kaye Sandison of Scalloway-based Hame fae Hame is one of 30 contributors to a report on the Workforce of the Future, released by the Leaders Council on Tuesday.
The report tries to get to grips with the challenge of making predictions about the future of work in an ever-changing environment and concludes, among other things, that prioritising white collar jobs over manual jobs may require an “urgent rethink”.
And while artificial intelligence (AI) may wipe out many computer based jobs over coming years, skilled manual jobs seem less at risk.
Several contributors to the report, including Sandison, highlighted the importance of apprenticeships and called on schools to do more to promote these.
Around 90 per cent of participants agreed with the statement that it was a historic mistake to usher 50 per cent of the population towards university, the report’s introduction said.
The Leaders Council of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a network of influential industry figures seeking to inspire the next generation.
Sandison said she has been in contact with the Leaders Council for many years and was asked to contribute to the discussions leading to the Workforce of the Future report after marking apprentice week earlier this year.
In her submission she said that recruiting staff to her business has never been a problem.
“My own experience of offering apprenticeships and recruiting staff for my childcare business in Shetland has been positive,” she said.
“However, other local businesses say that theirs has been variable, depending on the sector and apprenticeship framework within which they operate.
“Whilst my own experience has been good, it is always going to be important to identify and minimise barriers to recruitment and apprenticeships.
“In discussion with other local employers, it is apparent that schools could do more to promote vocational careers and encourage students to undertake work experience. There are financial challenges.
“I would expect technology to enable more online training and we already provide all food hygiene training in that way.
“I also believe that paying apprentices at reasonable rates is important, helping us with staff retention and enhancing their feeling of being valued.”
She added that by ‘reasonable rates’ she meant the Scottish living wage.
Chairman of the Leaders Council, former Labour home secretary Lord Blunkett, said: “Policy is not created in a vacuum and its effects are often felt in surprising and unexpected ways. In both the creation of policy and the aftermath of its implementation, a robust critique is vital.
“This special report provides a platform for such critique, which will be provided by experts across multiple sectors of our society. We take no stance ourselves but enable others who will be affected by policy changes to express their informed opinions
The full report, which will now be presented to MPs and industry leaders, can be found here.
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