Why You Should be Hiring An Apprentice

An apprentice is a person who is learning a trade from a skilled employer, having agreed to work for a fixed period at low or subsidized wages. And with our Apprenticeship Forum being held just this past Tuesday, I wanted to recap some of the advantages of hiring an apprentice.

• Many workplaces go through hiring highs and lows. This tends to lead to large groups of employees being at the same seniority level. Having large portions of your workforce close to each other in age and seniority can lead to large gaps when people retire. This leaves large holes that need to be filled suddenly and often with unskilled workers. Being apart of an apprenticeship program gives your company the opportunity to have a pool of experienced employees of different ages. This will leave you better able to plan for the future and meet future workforce needs. Whether it is expansion plans, or the retirement of older trades workers; having a large, variable pool of potential new hires is always going to be an asset.

 

• When you hire an apprentice you ensure that you will have an employee who is trained to provincial industry standards. But you also ensure the apprentice will understand your unique workplace conditions. Your apprentice becomes highly skilled on industry standards, saving you time and effort. While at the same time your training them on your specific systems. The apprenticeship program gives you the opportunity to be the first real world experience the employee receives. Helping them establish habits that are to your specific standards and procedures. No bad habits to unlearn here!

 

• One of the greatest immediate benefits of working with the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program is the cost benefit. Recruiting from these potential apprentices gives your firm a pool of dedicated young workers who you can train and ideally retain as long term employees. Many apprenticeship programs are subsidized and create a financial incentive to build your workforce. Getting the opportunity to work for a longer period of time with a new young employee at a discounted pay rate is invaluable. An opportunity you can consider almost as a long term interview.

 

• While in the apprenticeship program your apprentice will also be enrolled in the government supported in-class training. This portion of the program helps give your apprentice basic industry knowledge saving you training time. This can also give you an opportunity to stay current on government regulations. Also helping you support the future workforce needs of the industry and your workplace.

 

• Most exciting is a recent survey, which proves what many employers already speculated. Participants in an apprenticeship program are highly likely to develop a loyalty to the company with which they apprentice. This can only encourage employers to invest the time and effort into helping train these new young workers. As these employers are more then likely to see a more stable workforce both in their company and in the industry at large.

 

Over all the apprenticeship program helps everyone involved. Giving young unskilled workers an opportunity to break into a new exciting field. And helping employers develop stable workforces for many years to come.

 

If you haven’t considered hiring an apprentice I hope this has given you some food for thought. When you are ready to move forward with the process you can contact us by clicking here.