Thinking of taking a leap into the interim HR market? Go ahead and jump…

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Thinking of taking a leap into the interim HR market? Go ahead and jump…Senior HR professionals are increasingly coming to me to discuss the possibility of taking a leap into the interim market – with more and more expressing a desire go down the ‘consultancy’ route.

Rewind back to 2015 and this is exactly the position that Rachel Wade was in. A few years ago Rachel came to meet us to discuss her options. At the time she was the HR Director for EMEA, part of a Global Senior Leadership team. She seemed to have it all, but not all that she wanted.

My interim journey

Rachel is now 2.5 years into her interim HR journey. We talked to her, to get a real insight into what it takes to make it in the consultancy world. Her journey is one with many highs and lows and this is the brutally honest view of it.

Rachel was very lucky that immediately after leaving her permanent role, she had 6 months’ work offered to her. As amazing as this was, it also meant that she gave all her time to this role and didn’t focus on building her consultancy activities. So, when the 6 months were up and another piece of work didn’t materialise, it got real!

“It really hits when you are sat in an office, the phone isn’t ringing and the work isn’t coming in.”

Starting your interim journey isn’t always peachy – it took Rachel a while to find her groove. She realised that professionally she didn’t know who she was or what she wanted to be. Even as recently as a year ago she felt that her offerings were quite ‘vanilla’.

“It’s easy to get lost as so many people want to give you advice and tell you what you should and shouldn’t do. I had been positioning myself all wrong and was focusing on the wrong things. For the last 6-12 months I have been re-learning all the basics because at the start I was so client-led, I haven’t been in control of developing my business. It led me to remember why I wanted to do this in the first place and what my passion was.”

How do you plan your day?

“I have put structure into my day and that makes me feel empowered.”

Key priorities include: Getting invoices out to clients, chasing invoices, business development and having quality conversations with prospective clients.

Even when Rachel is delivering for a client, she still puts time aside to continue these important ‘behind the scenes’ activities. They keep the business going and her pipeline buidling.

Sales

However you feel about sales, as an interim you will have to do it in some way.

Contracts and clients won’t just appear from thin air. But don’t get too consumed with what to say and do, remember that you are speaking with your peers on these calls.

Don’t cold call – Rachel always takes the time to establish a relationship with prospective clients at events, seminars and workshops, or via LinkedIn.

Networking

There is no point going to a networking event unless you have a purpose as it takes up a lot of your time and resource.

Be selective about the networking events that you go to and do some research into the reasons behind the event and the type of people who are going to be there. Try to avoid the hard sell and don’t expect that by handing out your business cards to 20 strangers and giving them your sales pitch that you’ll win their business.

Remember that networking is exactly that – building a network. Making connections that you can learn from, give advice to, share knowledge and build a real relationship with.

‘Saying no’

It is so easy to take any work a client offers you, especially when things are quiet. But whatever this work may be, it will still require your time and effort. Try to figure out whether you want to do it or could your time be spent better elsewhere.

If you don’t align yourself with the business, or their expectations are not in line with what you can deliver, there is no shame in stepping away. Rachel admits that this is something that she has done in the past, and she has even stopped working with clients when it wasn’t the right fit.

 

What have been the highs and lows of the last few years in interim HR?

Highs

  • Getting the first piece of work. There’s nothing like the feeling you get when you realise that people will pay you for the work you do and that you are worth it.
  • Nominated for a ‘Woman Who’ award and was a finalist in the startup category. “Even though I didn’t win I got amazing feedback from the panel”.
  • Branding and taking up a virtual office space.

Lows

  • Getting lost on the journey and forgetting who I was and what my brand stands for.
  • Almost having my house and car repossessed.

After putting some structure back into her day and seeing some great results, Rachel is now focusing on building for the future. This includes putting in place proper systems and foundations and further embedding those crucial day to day activities. She also spends time analysing what works and what doesn’t, to continuously improve results. Rachel has also set herself financial goals and headcount goals and is now taking a more strategic approach to her business.

So there you have it… it hasn’t been easy, but through it all Rachel has stayed true to herself and the reasons why she chose to take the direction she did in the first place.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank Rachel for sharing so openly with me. If you would like to learn more about Rachel and her business, then you can find out more here.

Carl Hinett is our Director & Executive Search Specialist. If you’ve got a hard-to-fill role and need some help, get in touch carl@refind.co.uk.

Want to hear more about our senior HR professionals golf society? Sign up here.

Is ‘robotic process automation’ taking recruiters jobs?

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Is 'robotic process automation' taking recruiters jobs?
Is ‘robotic process automation’ taking recruiters jobs?

Is ‘robotic process automation’ taking recruiters jobs? If you’ve worked in shared services, then you’ve probably heard about RPA.

 

But what exactly is Robotic Process Automation? RPA refers to a growing trend across shared service centres all over the world whereby we now have robots that can perform more and more intelligent tasks. Whilst automation has been around for a while, thanks to the rate at which technology is changing we now have intelligent software systems that can process and data quickly and more efficiently than their human counterparts.

 

RPA is like a software robot, or artificial intelligence, that can perform human tasks and is designed specifically to perform a vast range of repetitive functions and communicate between other systems, in much the same way that humans do.

 

Once implemented, this software is a cheaper, more accurate and more efficient option for many businesses. Robots don’t sleep so they can work through the night, they won’t call in sick or be late on Monday morning and you don’t have the expense of having to provide them with benefits.

 

In some areas headcount can be reduced by more than double land with human error eliminated, it’s a no-brainer for most onshore…

 

More than 50% of shared service centres have plans to implement RPA in the future. But why? The main purpose of companies creating SSC’s, is to eliminate costs and improve efficiencies. Robots perform better than humans once rapidly trained, so it’s no wonder the stats are so high.

 

 

Some of the benefits of RPA include:

  • Reduced costs – between 30% and 80% savings
  • Improved efficiency
  • 24×7 work
  • Agility
  • Increases customer and employee satisfaction
  • Improved compliance
  • Human error eliminated

 

Robotic process automation will be the future of Shared Services. It will eliminate manual processing, reduce errors and inevitably saved time & costs. It will also provide a better service; software robots act in the same way as human beings and are trained extremely quickly to process data in a certain way, although they don’t make errors. Over time this software becomes more intelligent as it is self-learning and identifies trends, meaning that any unusual information that may have previously gone unnoticed will be flagged up by the robot.

 

RPA won’t work in everyone’s favour. It reduces headcount within a SSC, meaning redundancies for some, and initially, these transformation projects will be a big cost for businesses. Also, because of the complexities of changing existing systems, they don’t always work. There needs to be a solid strategy behind it with all stakeholders engaged in the project, as most transformation can fail if not implemented correctly. This is something that we’ve previously highlighted in these blogs (https://refind.co.uk/how-hr-is-preparing-for-digital-transformation/ & https://refind.co.uk/change-management-learning-secrets-success/).

 

Not all suppliers are in favour either, as sending invoices electronically may cause issues to supplies current accounting processes.

 

Some examples of how RPA is used.

 

Finance & Procurement

  • 3-way matching.
  • Invoice processing.
  • Cash allocation.
  • Credit status
  • Parsing

 

HR

  • Processing starters and leavers
  • Applicant screening
  • Recruitment feedback/rejection emails
  • Data management
  • Saving on recruitment costs

 

Payroll

  • New starters/leavers
  • Contractual changes
  • Attendance/absence records
  • Holiday records
  • Deductions such a pension, salary sacrifice etc.
  • Expenses

 

What are your experiences with robotic process automation? Has your business benefited from new technology, or has it caused problems in your workplace? To discuss you can email me at sam@refind.co.uk

You can view more about Sam Perry our Shared Services Executive Search expert here.

GDPR and recruitment – will it put a stop to lazy recruiters?

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GDPR and recruitment
GDPR and recruitment

GDPR and recruitment – you’ve most likely heard this year’s industry buzzword, GDPR.

 

GDPR refers to the new regulation that will be enforced on the 25th May and will require company and site owners to be transparent about how they collect, use and share personal data. But what does this mean for recruiters?

 

Recruiters have been using different tactics for years when competing against other agencies. Sending your CV without permission, adding responsibilities to your CV to make the hiring manager want to interview you, or even putting you forward for a role that you don’t necessarily want to go for. Many recruiters do this to hit their KPI’s as some recruitment companies are now holding back bonus payments when KPI’s haven’t been hit, making employees use sneaky tactics just for tick-box exercises.

 

Imagine your top client approaching you about a role and asking for your best 2 CV’s that fit the criteria, and reiterating that they want to see no more than 2. Some recruiters will still send over their best 2 CV’s, along with another 3 people that they’re hoping will secure interviews, using tactics they learnt on the “power of persuasion” training session they did when joined the company.

 

One of the biggest frustrations that I encounter when speaking to candidates and clients about recruiters, in general, is their inability to listen. Whilst a recruiter needs to provide advice, consult, and manage a candidate’s expectations, this needs to be done at the initial stages, and not when they are delivering a shortlist (or long;list in some cases!)

 

In my opinion, recruitment doesn’t (and shouldn’t) work like that. Too many people see recruitment as an equation nowadays, the more calls you make, CVs you send, candidate interviews you conduct = more money. Don’t get me wrong, speaking with many different candidates and clients can increase market knowledge and build relationships, however, it’s quality over quantity.

 

I recently took on a recruitment assignment with a company that I hadn’t worked with before, and as this was a new client I was competing against some of their current suppliers in a bid to prove myself. In this assignment I’d spoken to and met with a handful of new candidates, one in particular being a young lady who hadn’t got a great deal of working experience and was fairly new to a ‘recruitment process’.

 

She was excited by the role and showed lots of enthusiasm when I’d engaged with her. I felt that she was more than capable performing well within this role so I submitted her details, prior to meeting with the client. The candidate was then sent some online tests and psychometric profiling, which she completed, followed by a telephone interview.

 

I met with the client the next day to discuss the role in further detail and brought with me some feedback directly from this candidate regarding the profiling. The telephone interview was successful, and the candidate’s profiling had come back and the feedback from the client was positive.

 

The client then said that another agency had submitted her CV to their business that same day. As this role was very niche and included specific language skills, I was pretty sure that this other agency hadn’t spoken to my candidate as she would have mentioned how she had already been put forward for this role by myself.

 

I asked my client if this was a particular agency that I knew of who had a reputation for doing this time and time again, and lo and behold, it was. After the meeting I’d called my candidate to give her the positive feedback and had briefly mentioned this scenario to her. I wasn’t surprised when she’d told me she’d never heard of the agency, let alone spoken with them.

 

It turns out the agency had found her CV on an online job board and submitted it to the client without permission. The candidate was shocked by this practice, to say the least, and the client had said it wasn’t the first time this agency had been known to do this. Fortunately, on this occasion I’d beaten the agency in question to the draw.

 

There have been many instances where a client will interview a candidate based on who has sent a CV over first, and not who has had permission from the candidate, which can be incredibly frustrating. Especially after the time and effort that goes into meeting with the candidate, talking them through a role, and selling your client to them, only for a lazy recruiter to pick their CV off a job board, fling it over to the client and hope for the best.

 

Hopefully, with GDPR coming into force this May, this will stop shoddy recruiters from sending CVs without a candidate’s permission to potential clients.

 

What are your thoughts on GDPR and recruitment? How has your experience been with recruiters? Do you feel some cut corners, and don’t provide the levels of service they are supposed to? You can email me at sam@refind.co.uk 

You can view more about Sam Perry our Shared Services Executive Search expert here.

The new world of accountancy apprenticeships.

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The new world of accountancy apprenticeships.
The new world of accountancy apprenticeships.

The new world of accountancy apprenticeships: Ever since the 2012 Richard Review of Apprenticeships, the government has been working to implement a programme of reforms which we now know as the Apprenticeship Levy. If you have a UK wage bill of over £3 million, you are required to pay 0.5% of that into a levy. The purpose of this levy is to boost productivity by investing in human capital, particularly when it comes to developing vocational skills.

 

Recently, I attended an event hosted by HTFT who gave an insight into the new world of accountancy apprenticeships. HTFT have an innovative approach to professional accountancy training and having worked with them for around five years now, I can see why so many employers use HTFT as their preferred training provider.  They are truly passionate about what they do, and this shines through all of their students.

 

In this blog, I’ll discuss the criteria and eligibility requirements of an AAT accountancy apprenticeship and highlight their suggestions for successful implementation of the level 7 Professional Accountant Apprenticeship Standard.

 

This is a professional accountancy apprenticeship programme that will lead to a CIMA qualification and will also develop an individual’s skill set to include things such as leadership skills, commercial knowledge and professionalism.  Not only does this course provide many broad skills that can be utilised across the finance function; but employers can also benefit from little or no cost at all to the organisation.

 

New Standards

The new apprenticeship standards will replace the old style (SASE) frameworks. Under the new frameworks, apprentices will be required to build up a portfolio of skills and behaviours that have been demonstrated in the workplace and will need to be fully competent in the role and meet the requirements of the employer. They will then have a discussion with their employer at the end of the apprenticeship to ensure these have been completed.

 

With the new standards in place, apprentices can receive training tailored by their employer (in-house or external).

 

There are currently two standards that have been approved for delivery and one in progress:

  • Assistant Accountant (Level3)
  • Professional accounting taxation technician (Level 4)
  • Professional Accountant (Level 7) Currently being developed

 

With these new standards, employers have more flexibility over how they want to develop their future talent. This means that with the inclusion of a discussion at the end of an assessment, employers can now ensure that the apprentices meet the skills, knowledge, and behaviours standard required, whether this is down external training providers, in-house training, or even a combination of both. The timescales to complete each of these programmes vary:

  • Assistant accountant – typically 15 to 18 months
  • Professional accounting/Tax Technician – typically 18 to 24 months
  • Professional accountant apprenticeship – typically 18-36 months

 

Planning your programme.

When planning your apprenticeship programme, there are various activities that you can carry out in order to ensure that your programme works for you.

 

Firstly, take time to choose which Apprentice Assessment Organisation will manage the end-point assessment of your programme. Secondly, agree on an on-programme curriculum, and finally, agree on employer-based skills and behaviour training and support programme to cover the skills listen in the Professional Accountant Standard.

 

Each new apprenticeship standard has been awarded a funding cap, meaning that trainees are able to gain a full professional qualification for a fraction of the traditional cost. The funding caps for the apprenticeships are as follows:

  • Assistant Accountant Apprenticeship is £9,000
  • Professional Accounting/Tax Technician Apprenticeship is £9,000
  • Professional Accountant Apprenticeship is £21,000

 

What is the eligibility criteria for the apprenticeship?

The key eligibility criteria include:

  • Having the right to work in the UK (ordinarily resident for 3 years)
  • 16 in academic year they start their apprenticeship
  • Able to complete the apprenticeship in contracted time i.e. 12-month contract won’t now cover the length of the programme
  • Spend 50% of their time working in the English borders
  • Not be enrolled in another apprenticeship
  • Not asked to contribute financially to any costs of the apprenticeship
  • Existing members of staff and graduates eligible, if receiving significantly new training
  • Potential apprentices will need to have English and maths to GCSE level. If they have not reached this level, or can’t not evidence they have, HTFT can help.

 

HTFT offer a holistic and specialist guide that will direct you through the planning of your Professional Accountant Apprenticeship.

 

For more information, please contact – apprenticeships@htftpartnerships.co.uk  or visit http://www.htftpartnership.co.uk

If you would like to discuss further you can email me at sam@refind.co.uk

You can view more about Sam Perry our Shared Services Executive Search expert here

 

Achieving goals

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Achieving goals

Achieving goals – In almost every line of business and every workplace, so much emphasis is put on hitting goals and KPI’s that quite often the end goal is forgotten…

Don’t get bogged down in the detail!

For the past 6 months, I have been training for something that I never thought possible – participating in a boxing match. Actually fighting another human being under a strict set of rules with an audience looking on. Achieving goals has become very prominent in my mind.

Whilst this started out as a personal challenge of mine, completely separate from my work life, I have learned a lot about setting and achieving goals and what it actually takes to achieve them.

When I first started this journey, the end goal (which is 6 minutes in a boxing ring in front of 1,000 people) seemed like it was a million miles away and felt completely unachievable! But, by setting smaller, more realistic milestones along the way, the end goal no longer feels how it did in the beginning. It now feels very much like a reality, and now that I’m nearly at the end of this journey and have some perspective, I’ve realised that it was a lot easier to get to than I thought.

Get in the right mindset.

This mindset can be used in many different parts of your life, especially your professional one.

Work out what your end goal is, and then work backwards from there. Break down the task into manageable chunks and think realistically about how much work will be required to complete each one.

For example, if your end goal is to be promoted, then you need to work out exactly what you need to do to get there and break it down into too much smaller segments. Focus on hitting each individual task rather than rushing straight towards the end.

Once you do this, the task at hand doesn’t seem so big and your end goal will feel much more achievable.

To have a chat about your executive search, contact me at carl@refind.co.uk

You can view more about Carl Hinett our Executive search of HR professionals specialist here.

Recruiting millennial’s: how to recruit, train and motivate

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Recruiting millennial's: how to recruit, train and motivate
Recruiting millennial’s: how to recruit, train and motivate.

Recruiting millennial’s: how to recruit, train and motivate. In my opinion, the most difficult part of the recruitment process is at the very beginning. The actual recruiting.

 

With so many opportunities at millennials fingertips, you need to stand out against your competitors in an overcrowded online landscape in order to ensure these aspiring youngsters that it’s your business they want to work for.

 

When recruiting at this level, I always believe that it’s beneficial to put yourself in the candidate’s shoes so that you can understand what their aspirations of working for a company may be.

 

To attract the best millennial talent, you need to show your commitment to them and the fact that you can develop them through a structured training programme that will enable them to succeed within the company. Doing this will also ensure that you retain these recruits once they have been trained.

 

In order to conduct a successful training programme, you need to set out your employee’s goals from the start, find out what they want to achieve within the company, and set realistic timescales of how quickly they can achieve them.

 

Set them a task of developing a business plan which outlines what they would like to achieve within a three-year programme, and have regular one to one’s with them to discuss any concerns you or they may have and areas for development.

 

Communications is key – providing regular ongoing feedback will increase their confidence and motivation, and subsequently, their desire to succeed will develop as they progress through the programme.

 

Understanding the individuals is the key to training. You need to understand what makes them tick, what they feel they need additional support with and what their frustrations are. If you can understand this part, then it makes a huge difference when providing them with additional training.

 

Give some constructive criticism whilst praising their strengths, as most likely this could be one of their first jobs in the real world, and may not have had to deal with such direct criticism previously.

 

Most of all, make them feel wanted, and keep giving them additional responsibility, as they will no doubt want to be kept on their toes at such an early stage of their career!

 

For more information on recruiting the best millennial talent email me – sam@refind.co.uk

You can view more about Sam Perry our Shared Services Executive Search expert here

Can you get fun accountants?

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Can you get fun accountants?
Can you get fun accountants?

Whenever someone is introduced as an accountant, whether this is at a party or a networking event, quite often you see the rest of the group’s eyes glaze over and images of grey, boring suits flash in their mind.

 

If I asked you to picture an accountant right now, in fact, that’s probably the exact image that you would think up.

 

Whilst there may well be accountants that do fit this description, there are also plenty that don’t!

 

Accountancy, believe it or not, can actually be kind of exciting…

Working as an accountant, each work day has the potential to be dramatically different from the next. Accountancy provides the flexibility to avoid boredom, as it is essentially a function of any business so there’s the opportunity to work in a variety of different business settings.

 

Accounting has changed over the years. Gone are the days where you are perceived to be sitting behind your desk, crunching numbers all day on Excel and being antisocial and systematic. Companies are utilising their finance teams and allowing them to work more operationally with other departments.

 

As a result, there is a real demand for management accountants who, in addition to the core finance and accounting skills, can offer strategic thinking and commercial insight, combined with influencing and, ideally, leadership skills.

 

Emerging technologies are changing the way in which finance works too. Many companies now use cloud-based systems, analytic solutions and newer digital tools such as robotic process automation that can take out some of the more mundane tasks of accounting, and free up more time for forward thinking and driving business performance.

 

Being an accountant opens up the door to be able to understand all operations of a business, as when it comes down to a business making important decisions, the money involved becomes a major part of the process. Working in accounting puts you in a great spot to be able to contribute to the success of the business by helping leaders make smart financial decisions.

 

For more information on exciting opportunities in finance and being a fun accountant, email me at sam@refind.co.uk

You can view more about Sam Perry our Shared Services Executive Search expert here

Smashing your interview isn’t as complicated as you may think – all it requires is mastering the basics.

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Smashing your interview isn’t as complicated as you may think – all it requires is mastering the basics. The current candidate market is fiercely competitive, and being able to stand out from the crowd is becoming increasingly difficult.

There are countless articles online that list various ways to ensure that you make a lasting impression and ace your interview, however, the subsequent result of these articles is that too many candidates now overthink the interview process and forget the basic, key skills that will help in smashing your interview.

There’s no need to worry about making yourself sound like the most innovative and phenomenal character ever, because, if you master the basics of interviewing then you’re guaranteed to always stand out. Things like preparation, body language, interview etiquette and asking interesting questions are invaluable skills for smashing your interview at any stage of your career.

First impressions

First impressions, however clichéd, count. They are arguably the most important part of the interview, so be confident from the minute you enter the room. Offer your interviewer a firm handshake and introduce yourself clearly. Naturally, you may be a little nervous, but remember that this is an interview and not an interrogation, so find some common ground with your interviewer. Remember to thank them for inviting you in and let the conversation flow naturally. Also, remember that people employ people, not their CV’s, so let your personality come across.

Answers

The hiring manager will most likely have a list of questions to ask you and will want to understand your CV in more detail, so ensure that you know your CV inside out. Think about where you have added value to a business in some of your previous roles and structure them in the STAR interview response technique. STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result.

You’d be surprised how many people often don’t have a good answer to the question, “so tell me about yourself”. Story-telling is a crucial skill for interviews these days, and interviewers need to be engaged emotionally as well as just being told facts and figures about past experiences. Relating your previous experiences to the current position will help them to imagine you in the role interviewing for.

Your questions

I believe that the most effective way to make a positive impact in an interview is to ask interesting and memorable questions. Here are a couple of standout questions that people have asked me in the past:

  • What was it about my skills and experience that attracted you to my CV/Profile?
  • What do you enjoy most about working here?
  • What would make someone really successful in the role?

Finally, if you feel like the interview has gone well, don’t be afraid to ask for feedback there and then. You’ll be surprised by the response you will get. Doing this will also give you the opportunity to alleviate any concerns they have with your experience.

Carl Hinett is our Director & Executive Search Specialist. If you’ve got a hard-to-fill role and need some help, get in touch

Want to hear more about our senior HR professionals golf society? Sign up here.

What are Shared Service Centres?

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What are Shared Service Centres?
What are Shared Service Centres?

 

What are Shared Service Centres? A Shared Service Centre is a central hub of an organisation, typically responsible for handling specific operational tasks within accounting, human resources, I.T, legal and compliance, payroll, and procurement.

Shared Service Centres have been around since the mid-1980’s, and more frequently than ever, larger corporates are moving towards SSC’s and business process outsourcing.

So why do organisations set up Shared Service Centres?

Companies use Shared Services so they can utilise people, processes and technologies. Organisations will open up SSC’s to concentrate their administrative duties into a centralised function, this is in order to reduce costs, avoid duplication of effort and to allow for greater focus on business strategy.

In a nutshell, an organisation will set up a centrally located support centre to act as the main point of contact for all administration and queries.

The key objectives for most SSC’s are:

– Reducing costs

– Economies of scale

– Efficiency

– Improved control

– Performance/productivity measurement

– Customer satisfaction

For more information on Shared Service Centres, contact Sam our Shared Services Executive Search expert. In his free eBook, I examine the steps you can take to stay ahead in the field. If you would like your free copy, email me at sam@refind.co.uk

You can view more about Sam Perry our Shared Services Executive Search expert here

or to see how re:find can help you with yours, please contact us via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or email.

How can you use the Apprenticeship Levy to benefit your business?

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How can you use the Apprenticeship Levy to benefit your business?
How can you use the Apprenticeship Levy to benefit your business?

As of May 2017, any employer with an employee payroll of over £3m will pay 0.5% into the Apprenticeship Levy. Therefore, you might as well make the most of it.

Let’s start with the good news… firms will receive an annual allowance of £15,000, which can be effectively deducted from the 0.5% paid. What’s more, employers paying the levy receive a 10% top-up towards monthly contributions they make.

Here are four ways to make the Apprenticeship Levy work for your business:

1. Upskill existing employees

Most people have heard about the levy but don’t really understand it or what it means for their business. It is a common misconception that apprenticeships are for technical or vocational skills, and a route to recruiting and training inexperienced, entry-level staff. The truth is that apprenticeships can offer a valuable way of upskilling all levels of staff, from newcomers right through to the executives.

Training does not necessarily have to be at a level higher than existing qualifications of the staff, so you’re not restricted there.

Bear in mind that, if you started training for apprentices before 1 May 2017, then the levy will not affect the way you fund it.

2. Train senior managers

You can use the levy payment to pay for leadership and management training of senior managers. Apprentices can be anyone aged 16 or over, as long as they spend at least a fifth of their working week training and studying. The duration of the apprenticeship must be between 1 and 5 years. After the process of hiring an apprentice has been completed, funds will be deducted from a company’s digital account each month.

3. Make the most of the allowance

Ensure the process of hiring an apprentice is completed through the digital system:

  • Make an account
  • Add any connected companies or charities and link your PAYE schemes
  • Sign the agreement available
  • Authorize payment to the training provider
  • Select the organisation in charge of assessing the apprenticeship
  • Choose an apprenticeship standard.
  • Report and pay the company’s levy payment to the HMRC through the PAYE process in order to receive digital vouchers which expire within 24 months.

4. Work with new talent on a trial basis

Attract new talent without having to make a permanent decision. The apprenticeship vouchers can be used for training and assessment with any approved provider. Your training organisation can advertise your apprenticeship through the government’s online apprenticeship search tool.

Be aware that the apprenticeship must conform to the following rules in order to qualify:

  • Work towards government approved standards and frameworks
  • Pay at least the minimum wage
  • An apprentice must work with experienced staff and learn job-specific skills.

If you would like to hear more about the Apprenticeship Levy, email me at sam@refind.co.uk.

You can view more about Sam Perry our Shared Services Executive Search expert here.