Knowledge - Investors in People

When the perks don’t work: The true value of investing in a culture of wellbeing

Investors in People — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 13:09:40 +0000

For an organisation to thrive, the people it employs need to be thriving too. There is a growing body of evidence that links healthy organisational performance with having a healthy workforce. However, research of employees and HR decision-makers conducted for Investors in People by YouGov finds that when it comes to investing in employee wellbeing, employers are putting their budgets and energies into the wrong areas. Our research found a significant mismatch in how employee and HR professionals think about wellbeing, with employees finding wellness initiatives less valuable and effective than HR decision makers imagine.

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How to overcome leadership resistance to investment in wellbeing

Investors in People — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 15:06:01 +0000

Article Summary

Securing funding for employee wellbeing has never been easy but in today’s challenging economic environment it is more difficult than ever. Many leaders are sceptical about the tangible benefits of wellbeing programmes, perceiving them as non-essential and costly. Moreover, organisations face competing priorities and tight budgets, making it hard to justify investments in areas not directly linked to immediate business performance.

Workplace wellbeing, however, is critical to employee performance and organisational success. Environments that support and nurture employees foster high performance while toxic environments hinder productivity and engagement. The importance of developing and embedding a culture of health and wellbeing cannot be overstated.

So how can HR leaders persuade their CEOs that wellbeing is worth the investment, especially when competing with other business areas for funding?

Understanding leadership resistance

Leadership resistance to investing in wellbeing often stems from several sources:

#1

Scepticism about tangible benefits: Many leaders, especially in traditional male-dominated industries, view wellbeing as a “nice-to-have” rather than a “must-have.” They perceive it as fluffy and not directly linked to business performance.

#2

Financial constraints: In the face of financial pressures leaders prioritise immediate, controllable factors such as cash flow and sales performance. In such an environment wellbeing is not an easy lever to pull. It requires more thought, time and resources, which are in short supply when leaders need to make tough financial decisions quickly.

#3

Competing priorities: Business leaders juggle numerous urgent demands, from innovating products to expanding markets. Investing in employee wellbeing can seem less pressing compared to these priorities.

Translating wellbeing into business language

To overcome resistance, HR leaders should present wellbeing as a concrete driver of business performance. Here’s how:

Demonstrate return on investment (ROI):
Use data to highlight the financial benefits of wellbeing programmes. For example, according to a Deloitte study, poor mental health costs UK employers £51 billion each year. For every £1 spent on supporting the mental health and wellbeing of their workforce Deloitte says employers get (on average) about £4.70 back in increased productivity.¹When you tell a CEO they will be getting a return on their investment of over 400% you’re talking their language!

Link wellbeing to business outcomes: Show how a positive work environment leads to better performance and reduced turnover. A study by the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine found that companies promoting a culture of health outperformed the market by 2% annually, achieving a 264% return on equity compared to the S&P 500’s 243% over a decade.²

Use hard data and case studies: Present concrete examples and success stories from other organisations. McKinsey reports that disengagement and attrition, more common among those with lower wellbeing, could cost a median-size company $228 million to $355 million annually in lost productivity.³

We invest in wellbeing

3-YEAR WELLBEING ACCREDITATION

We invest in wellbeing is THE new standard for Wellbeing designed to help you perform at your very best!

The benefits of investing in workplace wellbeing strategies are certainly no secret and organisations everywhere are putting more and more focus into employee wellbeing.

Building a strong business case

To build a compelling business case for wellbeing, HR leaders should follow these steps:

Start with solid evidence: Gather data on the financial impact of wellbeing initiatives, including employee turnover, absenteeism and engagement levels. A meta-analysis by Harvard University School of Public Health in 2010 showed that for every dollar spent on wellbeing programmes the company saved $2.73.⁴

Align wellbeing with strategic goals: Connect wellbeing initiatives with the company’s strategic objectives. For example, if the goal is to drive innovation or customer satisfaction, explain how a healthy, engaged workforce is essential for achieving this.

Emphasise long-term benefits: Highlight the long-term gains of wellbeing investments, such as improved employee loyalty, performance and reduced healthcare costs. The World Economic Forum reports that companies investing in employee wellbeing have a competitive advantage and higher profitability, while leaders who prioritise a healthy, happy workplace can increase employee engagement and motivation.⁵

Address common objections: Be prepared to counter objections with data and success stories. If leaders argue that wellbeing is too costly, provide examples of cost savings from reduced turnover and absenteeism.

Present the moral argument: Emphasise the ethical responsibility of creating a safe and supportive work environment. As a good employer there is a moral obligation to create a safe environment. An evidence review by the University of Birmingham notes that a healthy working population is an ethical priority for businesses. The paper also points out that organisational factors are hugely influential when it comes to stress, saying: “The implication is that organisational and management changes should be targeted rather than individual distress since morale within an organisation is an important protective factor.” ⁶

In summary

In the words of our own Paul Devoy – CEO of Investors in People “A leader once told me: ‘You can’t out-yoga a bad boss.'”

This highlights the fundamental issue that effective leadership and a positive culture are crucial for the success of any wellbeing initiative. Organisations must adopt a holistic approach to wellbeing, focusing on creating a supportive and healthy work environment.

At Investors in People we have developed a Wellbeing Standard and We Invest in Wellbeing framework, which includes a maturity model for organisations. This framework helps organisations of all sizes and sectors to develop, implement and sustain a culture of health and wellbeing, ultimately driving better business performance and employee satisfaction.

In difficult times it is easy for leaders to take knee-jerk reactions and pull back spend in areas such as wellbeing. Overcoming leadership resistance requires presenting a compelling, data-driven business case. By translating the value of wellbeing into business language and aligning initiatives with strategic goals, HR leaders can secure the necessary investment to create a thriving workplace where employees feel valued and supported, driving long-term success and sustainability.

Practical tips for overcoming leadership resistance

Use hard data to demonstrate ROI: Present statistics and case studies that show the financial benefits of wellbeing programmes.
Draw clear correlations with business outcomes: Link a positive work environment to improved performance, retention and productivity.
Use compelling analogies: Help leaders visualise the impact of wellbeing on employee performance.
Build a strong business case: Base your argument on solid evidence, align wellbeing with strategic goals and emphasise long-term benefits.
Address scepticism directly: Be prepared to counter objections with data and success stories.
Share personal stories: Humanise the issue by sharing anecdotes about employees who have thrived thanks to wellbeing initiatives.

Sources ¹Deloitte: Mental health and employers: The case for employers to invest in supporting working parents and a mentally healthy workplace, May 2024 Deloitte https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/consulting/articles/mental-health-and-employers-the-case-for-employers-to-invest-in-supporting-working-parents-and-a-mentally-health-workplace.html ² Fabius, Raymond MD; Phares, Sharon PhD. Companies That Promote a Culture of Health, Safety, and Wellbeing Outperform in the Marketplace. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 63(6):p 456-461, June 2021. | DOI: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000002153 https://journals.lww.com/joem/Fulltext/2021/06000/Companies_That_Promote_a_Culture_of_Health,.2.aspx?utm_campaign=Research%20Review&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-82pcUbNtr93nHxhu0UWzxAK-PE3V09yeRDwn1IS-DdGpKq0TNENBn4q-aCa5a8h3NpXuYT ³ McKinsey: Some employees are destroying value. Others are building it. Do you know the difference? September 2023 https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/some-employees-are-destroying-value-others-are-building-it-do-you-know-the-difference ⁴ Baicker, K., Cutler, D. and Song, Z., 2010. Workplace wellness programs can generate savings. Health affairs, 29 (2), pp.304-311 https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/abs/10.1377/hlthaff.2009.0626 ⁵World Economic Forum: A healthy workforce is good for business. Here’s why, July 2023 https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/07/business-benefits-of-boosting-employee-health-and-well-being/ ⁶Workplace wellbeing programmes and their impact on employees and their employing organisations: A scoping review of the evidence base. A collaboration between Health Exchange & University of Birmingham. Fenton, S-J., Pinilla Roncancio, M., Sing, M., Sadhra, S. & Carmichael, F. 11/27/204 https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/documents/research/ias/wellbeing-at-work-review-jan-31.pdf

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National Apprenticeship Week: how we’ve made apprenticeships work for us

Investors in People — Mon, 05 Feb 2024 10:41:29 +0000

Article Summary

It’s National Apprenticeship Week and we thought what better way to demonstrate the benefit of having an apprentice than by showing you how we’ve done it here: who our apprentices are, what they do and how they feel we’ve performed as their apprenticeship provider.

Investors In People is a relatively small organisation and, so far, we’ve had three apprentices, who, in our opinion, have been worth every penny we’ve invested in them – and more. Our two most recent are still here. What follows is their story with us. We promise we didn’t tell them they had to be nice, we simply asked them to be honest.

Scott Irwin – 2013 apprentice, now Events Lead at Investors In People

Scott Irwin joined Investors in People in June 2013 doing a Level 4 business administration apprenticeship. He started off running our CEO’s diary but was quickly given other roles when he showed an interest and aptitude for them. He’s worked on the administrative side of our business, in merchandising, marketing and product development and has climbed the ranks to become our Events Lead – overseeing and planning all the organisation’s events, including the Make Work Better Conference and our annual Investors In People Awards.

Robyn Collins, 2022 apprentice

Robyn Collins is a graduate apprentice who started with Investors In People in October 2022. She’s at university one day a week studying for her degree in business management and the rest of the week she’s a sales executive for us, where she’s based in the account management team. She’s due to graduate with an honours degree this October.

The Investors In People approach to apprenticeships

We believe in practicing what we preach and that means we put our focus on the apprentice’s experience. For us, a happy apprentice leads to a successful apprenticeship. We try to take a holistic approach and make sure they get to grips with every area of the organisation. Our CEO, Paul Devoy, explains why:

“Giving them exposure to different aspects of the business, finding the thing that they particularly like and want to be good at and then helping develop them in that, that creates a very rounded individual.”

So, is this the perception that Scott and Robyn have had from their own experiences?

Far more senior now, Scott says he’s particularly grateful for being encouraged to try new things and different roles early on: “I think a lot more doors open quite quickly for you here. They provide a lot of opportunities. They’re happy to take calculated risks and are willing to let you have a crack at something because it could pay off.”

And for Robyn, like Scott, it’s being able to move about to gain experience which she’s valued: “I’m not confined to one specific role, and I think that’s crucial, that flexibility, and, as a result, I find myself becoming an increasingly versatile employee. I would consider myself lucky – I know others who have a set role within their organisation – so my experience really reflects on my employer. It’s particularly important to me to have wider exposure across the organisation because of my comprehensive degree in business management.”

As our current apprentice, has she had any issues with her apprenticeship so far?

“No,” she says. “Our Head of Account Management acts as my mentor for my university placement and I think having internal support within my apprenticeship has set me up for continuous development afterwards, as well as acting as a motivator in getting my degree. There’s already talk of what my role will look like after I graduate. I feel like this apprenticeship was an investment for Investors In People. They’re not just getting an apprentice for the sake of saying they’ve got one. I’ve built valuable relationships with many people and I really believe in the cause. I feel like I’m valued as an employee and there will be space for me to professionally develop once I complete my studies.”

While we’re obviously pleased to hear that, it is, we believe, not an accident that Scott stayed and that Robyn wants to as well.

We invest in apprentices

Drive the success of your apprentices
Gain insight into the relationships between apprentice, manager & training provider
Supported by our experienced practitioners
Accreditation valid for three years
Network with an active community from a variety of sectors
Join our movement to Make Work Better

How we’ve benefited from having apprentices

By putting what our apprentices needed first we’re now reaping the benefit of our investment. It is, says Paul, all about thinking long term:

“Five to ten years on, where Robyn and Scott are now, we know we’ve got somebody who is now higher performing because they had that time to grow and learn and understand. The big advantage as an employer is that you get somebody that learns about the business from the ground up. So, when they get into more senior roles, they really understand the DNA of the company. They understand the history. They understand how it works. Whereas if you bring in somebody from the outside they take a long time before they really get it. So not only do you get the loyalty, you also get somebody who’s embedded in your culture and who has bought into your purpose. But when you add the technical skills on top of that then it’s even more powerful.”

How we’ve benefited from having apprentices

We asked Scott and Robyn what, if anything, they would change about the apprentice experience and, even though there is ten years between them, they both agreed the biggest need is still to tackle awareness, as well as the lingering stigma that apprenticeships are not equal to a traditional degree.

“There is, and always will be, the university route,” says Scott. “All I would say is that it’s worth exploring if there is an apprenticeship route in a similar or exact career path you want to take. Right now, yes, you do need to go to university to become a doctor, but you don’t, for example, to study law. If you can find the right apprenticeship for your desired career path, that provides you the opportunity to learn, earn and get ahead while having no student loans to pay back and pushing yourself up the corporate ladder straight away. For me, it’s a no brainer.”

Robyn, who, unlike Scott, did get some advice on apprenticeships at school, fully agrees about the benefits of gaining work experience and coming out of university debt free. Awareness about the variety and type of apprenticeships though is still a big issue: “My school did a few things for National Apprenticeship Week. However, I was introduced to the idea of graduate apprenticeships by the company I did a modern apprenticeship with first and I wish I had known about them earlier. Nobody at school said there was an alternative to a degree and I feel like no-one knows what a graduate apprenticeship entails.”

The other issue she highlights is workload: “Because it’s a full degree there’s no cutting corners so it can be difficult to balance workload. Having a good management system is really important. I’m really luck I have that, but I know not everybody is.”

Why employers need to focus on providing quality apprenticeships

An apprenticeship scheme that doesn’t put the apprentice’s experience first is good for no-one. It’s not good for the apprentice’s wellbeing and it’s not good for the employer, who’s much more likely to lose that apprentice and therefore the investment they made when they hired them.

For our CEO, more employers need to turn their focus to the quality of what they provide. Too many, he says, place the emphasis on their short-term workforce needs, providing apprenticeships to plug an immediate skills gap but which are so narrow in focus they don’t do a lot for the individual apprentice:

“We have a disconnect in society at the moment. A lot of young people don’t want to go to university now. They would rather get an apprenticeship and learn and earn rather than come out with a whole load of debt in an uncertain job market. But there aren’t that many high-quality apprenticeships out there. Yet when you speak to employers they say how hard it is to recruit and retain staff. If employers took a longer-term view it would address a lot of the workforce issues they’re feeling the pain of now. You really can have a more productive workforce if you invest in developing people in a role.”

In summary

Stretch your apprentice, help them understand the whole organisation, give them guaranteed time for their studies and provide support and mentorship – that’s how you focus on the apprentice experience. Do that and, as we hope our apprentices have demonstrated, you will reap the benefits long term.

If you’d like more information on how our We Invest in Apprenticeships framework can support you in developing an effective apprenticeship programme, please get in touch. We’re here to make work better!

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How to create a high-quality apprenticeship scheme that delivers for all

Investors in People — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 13:01:13 +0000

Article Summary

Now in its seventeenth year, National Apprenticeship Week has long been seen as a fantastic way of raising awareness of apprenticeships. Among the many events happening across England, you’ll find schools, universities and colleges running apprenticeship fairs, information evenings for parents and some of our most high-profile employers hosting events aimed at encouraging people to apply for their schemes. But at Investors In People we focus more on what it takes to run a successful apprenticeship scheme. It’s why during this National Apprenticeship Week we’ll be hosting a networking event aimed, primarily, at those of you whose job it is to develop and look after your organisation’s apprenticeship schemes. We know creating a successful apprenticeship programme isn’t easy, that it’s often a steep learning curve for those involved and that doing it well takes commitment from all levels in the business. But as our CEO, Paul Devoy, puts it, getting it right is important:

“Apprenticeships are good for the individual, they’re good for employers and they’re good for the overall prosperity and social cohesion of society.”

Within this article you will find ideas and experiences that show what you need to think about to make sure your scheme – whatever stage it’s at – is a success. There are some tips from us, as well as advice from those who are already running successful apprenticeship programmes.

Let’s start with the advice.

What does it take to run a successful apprenticeship scheme?

To answer this, we asked two companies already accredited by us under our We Invest in Apprentices framework what they thought the drivers were behind their success.

Greene King, recognised last year as the UK’s Best Pub Employer, has 35 different apprenticeships in operation and has supported over 17,000 apprentices since they launched their scheme in 2011. Graham Briggs, their Head of Apprenticeships and Employability Programmes, credits their success to the support they’ve had across the business, from Greene King’s executive board right through to the line managers. “Apprenticeships,” he says, “are seen as a key tool to create opportunities, attract diverse talent and support people to achieve a fulfilling career in hospitality.”

It’s something Laura Malcolm, Head of Next Generation Talent at DHL Supply Chain, agrees with. For DHL, apprenticeships are a “pivotal part in future proofing our talent pipeline” and, says Laura, as with Greene King, senior buy-in was a key reason why their apprenticeship scheme has done so well:

“We have a board sponsor who plays an important role in pushing the messaging on apprenticeships throughout the business and ensuring the right opportunities are available.”

What’s evident from both companies is they see apprenticeships as a long-term investment and that it’s their role to give their apprentices the skills they need for life. It’s apt then that the theme of this year’s National Apprenticeship Week is Skills for Life – helping individuals get the skills and knowledge they need for a rewarding career, and helping employers develop a workforce ready and able to take on the jobs of the future.

Much has been made in recent years of the poor quality of some apprenticeship schemes and that being the reason behind the number of dropouts. While the government has made a commitment to drive up the quality, particularly around the educational aspects, at Investors In People we believe it’s only by providing high-quality schemes that companies can reduce their drop-out rate and really begin to reap the benefit of what they’ve invested.

As Laura Malcolm says, one of the things that’s made their scheme successful has been “providing meaningful experiences” for their apprentices: “We ensure all our apprenticeship opportunities provide real life experience that will kick start someone’s career the right way.”

It’s clear then that to run a successful apprenticeship scheme the two biggest things you need to get right are:

Investment and commitment from across the business – all the way from the board to those working beside the apprentice in the office or on the shop floor. You need to highlight success stories within your business and make sure everyone working with your apprentice understands the benefit the scheme will bring to them.
Creating meaningful experiences for your apprentice so that at the end of their course they don’t go elsewhere, they stay and go on to have a long and successful career in your organisation.

In short, you need to be committed to an apprenticeship as a long-term investment, one which may take a few years for the benefits to be felt. It’s why commitment is one of the key things we look for when we’re assessing a scheme. There are other things too and, with that in mind, here are a few more tips from us on what to think about. They’re based on our framework, which was developed to cover every aspect of what it takes to build and execute an apprenticeship scheme that delivers positive and predictable results.

We invest in apprentices

Drive the success of your apprentices
Gain insight into the relationships between apprentice, manager & training provider
Supported by our experienced practitioners
Accreditation valid for three years
Network with an active community from a variety of sectors
Join our movement to Make Work Better

Developing a high-quality and effective apprenticeship scheme – tips for getting it right

Think about your apprentice’s development. It’s not just about the commercial need for an apprentice, look at the broader and perhaps more pastoral needs:

Make sure they’re supported by a trained, engaged and willing line-manager and/or mentor and that they feel prepared for their assessments within the apprenticeship programme.
Help them measure, monitor and manage their workloads.
Provide timely information, feedback and motivation.
Give them objectives that stretch and develop them both personally and professionally.

Ensure communication is open and that there is good support in place. This is about being joined up – having the support there across all functions, management levels and training providers.

Make them aware of what their future pathway looks like, with meaningful milestones. Celebrate their successes and provide role models and inspiration by sharing the successes of those who have taken the same pathway before.
Ensure they feel empowered to give their ideas and feedback; that they know their voice matters to the company.
Consider their wellbeing a priority and, particularly for those under 18, ensure there is adequate safeguarding.

Be committed. As with any other role there needs to be a good business case for your apprenticeship and your apprentice should be treated fairly.

Ensure your recruitment is tailored to the specific needs of apprentices and that you try to recruit from a wide and diverse pool of talent. Think outside the box – we know Amazon, for example, targets its schemes toward people who’ve previously served in the armed forces as they like the qualities they bring to the job.
Your induction process needs to be adapted specifically for apprentices, who may have very different backgrounds and experiences compared with those who come to your organisation via the more traditional route.
Make sure their wage is competitive and their benefits package the same as your other employees.

And finally, we do have one more suggestion to make!

Summary

To quote our CEO, Paul Devoy, again:

“There’s plenty on offer to enhance the learning and skills of apprentices and apprentice employers alike and the new relationships, connections and teachings from the day will go a long way towards supporting employers and employees on the next step of their journeys.”

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Values refresh: what we learned when we decided to look again at who we are

Investors in People — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 11:50:26 +0000

Article Summary

There are certain HR topics which make people’s eyes glaze over and, like it or not, values is one of them. For too many employees, their only experience of an organisation’s values is during an induction presentation or when they walk past a certain wall in their lobby. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Freshly inspired by our Make Work Better conference, the Investors In People team recently met to discuss and update our values. The day was led by our People Director, Beth Samson. This is her take on why it was such an important and useful thing to do and (spoiler alert) it’s got nothing to do with having a nice new set of words to put on our wall.

In a lot of ways Investors In People’s values are perennial. We were created with a specific purpose in mind and our values came naturally out of that to guide how we behave. But the last time we actively looked at our values was in 2017, when Investors In People became a community interest company, and, since then, a lot has changed. Post Covid, the entire team now works from home, meeting in person once a quarter, and there’ve been a lot of personnel changes, particularly among the senior leadership.

So, while our values might be part of the fabric of how we work, people hadn’t really been using the language of the values and it’d been a while since we’d given them the kind of attention they deserved. Deciding it was time to shake that up, we booked a workshop on values for the day after our Make Work Better conference.

When it came to the timing, I couldn’t have asked our headline speaker, Steven Bartlett, to line up our day any better than he did. Steven had talked a lot about how culture can be both organic – it comes from how people behave and interact at ground level – and, if you’re starting an organisation, designed. What really interested me was what he said about reverse engineering your culture; designing the culture you want to fulfil your business goals.

The other thing he talked about was how strong cultures are self-policing. As a leader you set the tone and role model, but once your culture establishes itself, people carry on living it themselves.

Values should be like fingerprints, unique to us, we leave them everywhere we go. And one of Steven’s questions for the audience at our conference had been how do people experience you at work? Because how people experience us at work is the manifestation of our value set.

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Drive Business success and growth
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Attract better talent and boost staff retention
12 and 24-month check-ins
Accreditation valid for three years
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What we did

It was with all this in mind that I opened our workshop by asking the team to forget everything they knew about our values. We started with a pub quiz activity, where we randomly assigned teams, asked them funny questions and set puzzles. We then did a reflection exercise on how people had come together within their teams and what they brought as individuals to solving the problems.

Rather than just talking about what our values are, we tried to do it backwards, to reverse engineer, as Steven had said, to get us thinking about how we behaved first and then what values that might show.

We did other things too, like a creative activity where we asked people to come up with a visual representation of what a value meant to them – how it looked, sounded and felt – using magazines and print outs. In some organisations I know that might have met with resistance, but we’re lucky at Investors In People; people work for us because they’ve already bought into our mission and purpose, so they just dug straight in and came up with some amazing images and ideas.

What we learned

Did our day of reflection change our values? You could say it was more evolution than revolution. We’ve tweaked our wording rather than started again. Was it worth doing? Absolutely. Values aren’t about words, they’re about actions and intent. People can get so hung up on defining what We are Empowered means, but that’s not what’s important. What’s important is how We are Empowered is expressed and how that’s expressed changes over time too.

Our day also showed us our strengths and weaknesses. We’re very good at what we think our values look and sound like – for example, if we say We are Collaborative, that means recognising teamwork, engaging those from other teams, talking regularly, connecting outside of work. However, we’re less confident on what we’d challenge if we weren’t seeing collaboration and that was quite thought provoking for a lot of people.

Perhaps the most significant thing that came out of the feedback survey was that people liked that the workshop had given them time to think about their own behaviour. They said they’d be more intentional going forwards about living the values and spotting things that were helping or hindering them. In short, it was giving people the space to reflect that left them re-energised and inspired to do better.

Tips for organising your own values workshop

Think about the energy you want to create. How are you going to design your day so that people feel that energy of refreshment and excitement and engagement? For us, I deliberately chose a hands-on, creative activity because we all work virtually. We’re attached to our laptops and screens all day, so I thought about what we could do to make it tangible and memorable, to excite different parts of the brain that aren’t usually excited.
Challenge your thinking. We all bring assumptions to topics like this, so I did a lot of engagement before the day. I listened to people’s thoughts on the values we already had so I could design the day to be as impactful and useful as possible. I’d assumed nobody would want to continue with the values we created in 2017, but when I spoke to people I found it wasn’t about that, that I didn’t need to go that far. It was more about reconnecting people with what our values mean in practice.

The value of inspiration

The day before our workshop I was talking to someone at our conference who told me she’d been falling out of love with HR. She’d forgotten why she went into it in the first place and it just wasn’t exciting her anymore. But, she said, the conference had reignited that fire inside her, something which still gives me goosebumps to think about now.

In the day-to-day busyness of work, it’s easy to forget why we’re doing something and it can be so beneficial to take time out and remember why we do what we do. Because that’s what she remembered from her day: what we in HR do is important and influential and is going to shape the future.

We have the control to change things for the better – and what is that if not exciting?

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Paul Devoy: Why only hiring A-players doesn’t guarantee success

Investors in People — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 16:37:42 +0000

Article Summary

How does an organisation create a strong, high-performing team when they aren’t in a position to recruit the Alphas in the working world? Simple: concentrate your efforts on the team you’ve got and lead them as best you can.

Investors in People CEO, Paul Devoy spent some time reflecting on the recent Make Work Better conference and his session with headliner Steven Bartlett on recruiting the right people for success.

Collaborative behaviour, a sense of purpose, and giving people autonomy are all traits everyone from successful businesses to football managers to chicken farmers can employ to see your B- and C-players fulfil their potential.

Only hire A-players is the advice of Steven Barlett in his excellent new book, 33 Laws for Business and Life. While I agree with almost everything he says in that book, on this one point, I disagree. We discussed it when Steven was the headline speaker at our Make Work Better conference last week. It’s my view that only focussing on elite recruitment is not a luxury the majority of organisations have at their disposal. It can also cause unintended, negative consequences and you’re actually much better off improving the team you’ve got.

It’s why those of you who were there would’ve seen me counter Steven’s advice with a little anecdote about Super Chickens. Super Chickens? Yes. Let me explain.

Super Chickens: the A-players of the hen world

I should start this by saying that Steven was a great headline speaker for our conference. He has fantastic insights from his own business success and, more importantly, he’s a really decent guy. He had a business meeting scheduled after our conference and delegated it to one of his team to make sure he had time for engaging with the audience afterwards. I’ve never seen so many selfies in one go and he was kind and generous with his time with everyone he met. But back to the Super Chickens…

In his book, Steven says: “Every CEO and founder will be judged simply on their ability to 1. hire the best individuals and 2. bind them with a culture that gets the best out of them.”

He also quotes another hugely successful entrepreneur, Steve Jobs:

“I found that when you get enough A-players together, when you go through the incredible work to find five of these A-players, they really like working with each other because they’ve never had a chance to do that before and they don’t want to work with B and C players. And so it becomes self-policing, and they only want to hire more A-players. And so you build up these pockets of A-players and it propagates. And that’s what the Mac team was like. They were all A-players.

Only hiring A-players might be all well and good for Steven Bartlett or Steve Jobs who have people queueing out the door desperate to work for them. But what about those working in more ordinary organisations? Can’t B- and C-players ever be great? Here’s where you might take some comfort from the story of the Super Chickens experiment.

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Back in the 1990s, scientists designed an experiment to improve the egg laying productivity of chickens.

They split them into two groups and each group lived together in a pen. The first group, the control, were all average egg producing hens, left to reproduce for six generations on their own. The second group were the so called ‘Super Chickens’ from each generation – the hens which produced the greatest number of eggs – put together in a pen where it was believed they would go on to win the egg-laying race.

Things didn’t go as expected though. At the end of the experiment, while the control group were plump, well feathered, healthy and producing more eggs than they had at the beginning of the experiment, the ‘Super Chickens’ had killed each other. There were, in fact, only three survivors, the rest had pecked each other to death.

The scientist’s conclusion was it wasn’t any genetic trait that had made these hens better egg producers, it was their behaviour: the Super Chickens were only super because they were more aggressive; they hoarded resources and caused the health of other chickens to suffer. Selecting only these aggressive chickens is what led to the demise of their group.

An extreme example of how allowing in only ‘the best’ can go wrong? Maybe. Before we went on stage, Steven and I had a chat about our shared passion, football – he being a big Man Utd fan and me being a lifelong Falkirk fan (and, no, he hadn’t heard of Falkirk either). Football is actually a pretty good metaphor for the Super Chicken effect.

In the early 2000s, Real Madrid implemented what became known as the galácticos or ‘superstar’ strategy. Their management believed if they only bought superstar players they would progressively become a world-class team. After some initial success, the club’s performance went downhill. One of the main reasons behind this is thought to be that the club wasn’t interested in paying high wages for defensive talent; they prioritised attacking players who would score goals. It led to an imbalance in the team and a decline in performance. Fast forward to today and you can see (sorry, Steven) Manchester United have also adopted this strategy and, similarly, aren’t doing as well as you’d think they should be.

Collective effort: how the Bs and Cs of this world can outperform the A-players

Contrast this with Brighton and Hove Albion F.C. They don’t have star players but when you look at their overall results on a relatively small budget, they are pound for pound outperforming the likes of Manchester United. They’ve brought people in and developed them into great players, bound by a collective philosophy.

What’s really interesting is some have been sold on to some really big clubs and then not performed well there. It shows how important the collective – the team – can be to success; Bs and Cs working together in a collaborative way can develop a long-term strategy which sees them outperform the Super Chickens.

Now, bear with me on the football analogies a bit longer. Steven Bartlett, like me, thinks Sir Alex Ferguson is the best football manager of all time – and, in my case, this is partly because he played centre forward for Falkirk between 1969 and 1973. Steven even refers to him in his book, where he says it was Sir Alex’s creation of a strong, united culture within the club which was key to its success. And to be fair to Steven, he also strongly emphasises the importance of culture. For Alex Ferguson, no player was more important than the club and they all had to embody the “United way.” Great leadership, a strong vision and a culture which focusses on the overall performance of the team, not the individual – I think there is something there that many employers can learn from.

So, if you want to create a strong, high-performing team, what do you do? My advice would be don’t worry about recruiting in the Alphas, concentrate your efforts on leading the team you’ve got as best you can. You want to pull together people with the right skills, of course, but you can also train people to have the right skills, just as you can – and should – nurture collaborative behaviour and best practice.

I believe intrinsic motivation comes from a sense of purpose. It comes from getting people in roles that align with their strengths and allow them to perform at their best, and it comes from giving people autonomy. Bring that together under some good leadership, with well trained and supported managers and you’ll create the environment where everyone, including the B- and C-players can fulfil their potential.

Just remember those control chickens – happy, plump and, without the Alphas stealing their food and getting all the glory, producing the most eggs they ever had.

P.S – I am severely allergic to eggs.

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Making Work Better: How apprenticeships can futureproof your workforce

Investors in People — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 13:26:34 +0000

Article Summary

Perceptions of apprenticeships are changing. Once dismissed by the public as the poor vocational cousin to the university degree, they’re now seen by many as a genuine, often highly competitive alternative entry path to some of the most sought-after careers. The number of apprenticeships on offer has risen dramatically and employers, impressed by how good they are, are increasingly using them to not only expand and diversify workforces but to futureproof them too; to ensure organisations in both the private and public sector have the right people in place to fill their most valuable roles for years to come.

One of the topics at our Make Work Better conference in September 2023, was the role of apprenticeships in the future of work, we’re taking a look at why so many now believe they are one of the best ways to address the UK’s skills shortage.

Apprenticeships: no longer the second-class route

It’s the government levy, introduced in 2017, which has been the biggest driver behind the rapid expansion in the number and type of apprenticeships on offer. Where once apprenticeships were limited to vocational industries, such as hairdressing and woodworking, now, among many other things, you can be an apprentice solicitor, doctor, accountant or trader. In fact, across almost all industries, organisations are using the levy to create apprenticeships at all levels and entry points, be it for school leavers, careers changers or their own staff looking to upskill.

For the government, apprenticeships are a success story. According to the Chartered Management Institute, apprentices who qualified in 2019 are projected to add seven billion pounds to the economy by the end of 2029^[1], which means with an initial training investment of two billion, they’ll have seen a 300% return. It’s one of the reasons why the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has described apprenticeships as the “cornerstone” of the government’s Plan for Jobs scheme, because they believe they contribute “to a high-skill, high-productivity economy.”^[2]

So, have we really caught up with countries like Germany where apprenticeships aren’t seen as the second-class route into employment but just another part of the education system? Not quite. Recent research suggests 44% of people now believe apprenticeships offer young people better job prospects and preparation for the workplace than university^[3], but it’s still hard for teachers and parents to know whether a particular apprenticeship scheme is the right choice.

While it’s relatively easy to figure out if a university offers a good course and prospects, at the moment, the only option marking out a good or excellent apprenticeship provider is if they are accredited by us.

An opportunity to create your future workforce

While the levy might be primarily responsible for driving up the number of apprenticeships available, it’s seeing the benefits they bring to the business which has changed attitudes among employers. When we talk to the organisations we accredit under our We invest in apprenticeships framework we hear the same comments about what they’ve discovered after hiring apprentices: they bring new thinking, ideas and energy and, when a scheme is well run, they’re also more loyal and committed to an organisation after their apprenticeship finishes.

Take British Airways as an example. They started having apprentices back in the 1970s to address a worldwide shortage of licensed aircraft engineers which still exists today. Since the introduction of the levy, however, they’ve taken a more centralised approach to apprenticeships, to ensure consistency as well as diversify and expand the range of apprenticeships they offer.

“The majority of our schemes are tailored and designed to build pipelines for different levels and entry levels into the business,” says Ricky Leaves, BA’s Apprenticeship Manager. With feedback from managers that apprentices are outperforming their colleagues or that they’re desperate to offer them permanent roles because they’re so good, he says, “the whole business is seeing the benefit.”

Aside from their engineering apprenticeships, which bring in about 60 new recruits a year, BA also have a Head Office scheme, known as the Business Professional scheme, where apprentices work towards a Level Three Business Administrator apprenticeship and then specialise.

This year, for example, they have an apprentice working in their Community Investment and Sustainability team, developing their skills in fundraising, because they’ve identified this as an area where they’ll need more staff in a few years’ time. They also have an Aspiring Leader apprenticeship, where the apprentice studies for a degree in Chartered Management with the intention they go on to work in one of BA’s middle management roles. The key, says Ricky, is to not view apprentices as simply a resource:

“It’s about helping developing individuals gain the skills and knowledge they need for that business area…It’s very much forward thinking, working out how we can use the Business Professional scheme or Aspiring Leaders scheme to generate a talent pipeline for substantive and permanent roles in two- or three-years’ time.

BA are far from alone in viewing apprenticeships as a way of making sure they have a workforce with the right skills for the future. British Gas recently announced they want to take on an apprentice a day until 2030 and, to address the gender imbalance in engineering, they want half of them to be women. And companies like Costa Coffee and Starbucks also run large apprenticeship schemes, where the apprentice might start out making coffee but the intention is they go on to management positions; apprentices stay because there is progression.

The levy has helped organisations create apprenticeships for any area of the business where they see a need. And, says Ben Godfrey, our Apprenticeships Product Manager, that’s why they’re seen as important in overall workforce planning: “They can fill all the niches. They’ll meet those future needs because we can now make more and more apprenticeships.” Here he points to the benefits for both new industries, such as AI and coding, and old industries such as car making, particularly manufacturers like the Morgan Motor Company who make their cars by hand. “Those very old traditional ways of working are only really kept alive by apprenticeships because universities don’t offer these sorts of degrees.”

Creating sustainable success

For the individual, says Ben, apprenticeships “are definitely becoming a genuine alternative to university because of the cost of living, the prices of degrees and because you can earn as you learn.”

And for employers, the benefits to plugging their skills gaps are obvious. Ricky’s advice for anyone thinking of using their apprenticeships to plug workforce shortages? “Don’t view the levy money as a budget. Ask yourself the question, why this apprenticeship? It has to be meaningful, there has to be a reason behind it. It’s not just that we’ve got X amount of millions in our levy account so we’re going to offer every Captain and First Officer the chance to do an MBA Senior Leadership. It has to be right. You don’t just implement it and react. You have to plan it, test it and then implement it.”

Ben and Ricky both spoke at our Make Work Better conference on 20th September.

References

^[1]Celebration recognises value of apprenticeships to UK economy – CMI (managers.org.uk)

^[2]Flexible apprenticeships to boost jobs in key sectors – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

^[3]New stats show UK backs apprenticeships over university | Multiverse

The post Making Work Better: How apprenticeships can futureproof your workforce appeared first on Investors in People.

Making work better: creating a family-friendly workplace

Investors in People — Tue, 05 Sep 2023 17:52:13 +0000

Article Summary

How family friendly is your workplace? It’s a question most employees will ask themselves at some point, usually when they’re about to become parents. How you answer that question is what will mark you as either the kind of organisation they want to stay working for or the kind they want to leave. With recruitment and retention an issue in many industries right now, it’s not hard to see why more forward-thinking companies are making the conscious choice to actively support parents. But introducing a new family-friendly policy isn’t as simple as putting out a new policy document, it often requires significant cultural change to embed successfully.

We’ve spoken to the experts in this field – who’ll also be discussing this topic at our Make Work Better conference – to find out more about the issues parents are facing, what the most progressive companies are doing to help and how to make sure that when you do implement a new policy it’s taken up by those it’s aimed at.

Family friendly policies – what’s progressive and what’s not?

When we think of family-friendly policies we tend to think of two distinct phases in a parent’s life. There’s the year after the birth, when maternity and paternity leave policies can have a huge impact on the financial and emotional wellbeing of your employee and their family. And then there’s the nursery and school years, when parents often feel like they’re in a constant juggling act, balancing the competing demands of work and home.

When it comes to maternity and paternity leave, according to Jane van Zyl, CEO of the charity Working Families, progressive employers, like John Lewis, Vodafone and Aviva, are equalising leave. And the very best are offering 26 weeks on full pay for both mums and dads. More employers are also implementing policies which help people on their journey to parenthood, providing paid leave after a pregnancy loss, for example, or support for anyone undergoing fertility treatment.

When a family enters the school years, however, she says it’s important to remember that supporting parents doesn’t just mean offering the option to work from home. The nature of many people’s jobs means they have to be on site and it’s this group of people, mostly women in lower paid work, who call their helpline for advice: “It’s about them literally just wanting to get staggered start and stop times or possibly work part time, which can then have huge financial penalties, not just immediately but over the course of their working lives.”

It’s in the professional services industry where, during lockdown, working from home really took off. But now Elliott Rae, the founder of MusicFootballFatherhood.com, says he’s hearing of more employers rowing back on flexible-working policies put in place during the pandemic, requiring people to come back into the office either full time or set days a week. This group of parents, particularly dads in the more traditional industries such as law and accounting, face different pressures. It is, he says, often about being seen to be, “dedicating your life to work. Long hours, being present, being in the office, being available for emails at any time of the evening and clearly showing your superiors you are prioritising work in your life.”

Family Friendly Workplace of the Future

Want to know how employers can use policy to create a workplace that supports and encourages a family friendly work-life balance?

Family friendly policies – what’s progressive and what’s not?

It’s clear then that, in some sectors, there’s a way to go when it comes to persuading those at the top why they should change the status quo. Jane’s charity helps organisations improve their parental policies. She says if an employer comes to them wanting help, “the first thing we always do is make the business case for supporting the policy…It’s very much about what benefits it will bring to the business or organisation. It may be around staff retention, it may be around staff engagement, it may be around well-being. Flexible working supports all of those issues, but you might introduce it in a slightly different way. You might, for example, want to start with trying to understand how much overwork there is within your organisation.”

The other crucial piece of advice all our experts agreed on was the importance of first understanding your employees’ needs. It’s what Emily Christmas, HR Manager at Carrington West, says they did before they brought in flexible working: “As a very traditional sales type environment, it was quite unheard of when we first introduced flexible working, but it was something our employees wanted. And we wanted to listen to them, so we asked for their feedback – what does flexible working mean to you? How does it look? We took all that feedback on board and created this new policy and what I really like about it, is it’s unique to each person.”

Whether it’s a desire to come in late or take a short lunch break and leave early, employees only need make sure there is cover in the team and they’re otherwise free to figure out what’s best for them – and this includes the option to work from home two days a week. The feedback since implementation has, she says, been “very positive.”

“Culture and leading from the top on this are hugely important,” says Jane when it comes to making sure that your new policy is taken up by staff. And here Elliott also agrees:

“It’s very important to do the wrap around cultural support because you can introduce a policy that’s really good, but you’re also battling against the kind of cultural attitudes people have had for generations…So it’s really important for the workplace to do that work as well – to say we support this, you have our backing, the job will be here when you come back and we’re going to address any negative behaviour or microaggressions.”

So, how do you ensure those who take advantage of your new progressive policies aren’t disadvantaged? According to Beth Samson, Investors In People’s very own People Director, you need to start with data. Why? Because “you don’t know you’ve got a problem unless you’re able to see the problem. And sometimes, especially if you have good policies, it can give you that false assurance everything’s fine.”

Beth recommends looking at return rates after parental leave, as well as satisfaction levels one, three and six months later and comparing that to the wider population. You can also look at progression statistics – is there a negative impact of taking parental leave over time? And what is the impact on pay? Once you’re clear on that you then want to invest in training and support for managers and look more widely at your diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Creating a genuinely family-friendly workplace is no small task and all our experts had lots of tips and advice. If you’d like to hear more from them, make sure you sign up to our Make Work Better conference, happening in London later this month. As Beth says, “there are moments of truth in your life, pivotal moments when things change and you need support and flexibility from your employer – and becoming a parent is one of them.” It’s why here at Investors In People we believe it’s so important employers invest in their family-friendly policies and that, when they do, they’ll have more engaged, motivated and loyal employees.

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Making work better: Steven Bartlett on leadership best practice

Investors in People — Mon, 21 Aug 2023 17:03:01 +0000

Article Summary

The name Steven Bartlett will be familiar to anyone keen to succeed in business. He was just twenty-two when he set up his social media marketing agency, The Social Chain; five years later, it was valued at over £300 million. He’s the youngest ever ‘Dragon’ on BBC 1’s hit show, Dragon’s Den; his book Happy, Sexy Millionaire was a Sunday Times bestseller and his podcast, The Diary of CEO, in which he interviews some of the most successful people of our time, is listened to by millions.

He is clearly someone a lot of people want to hear from – and it’s why we’re delighted he’s going to be the keynote speaker at our first ever Make Work Better conference in September.

So, what are Steven’s views on leadership, how to create a great workplace culture and empowering employees? Read on to find out.

#1

Make sure that everyone, particularly the potential apprentice, understands what’s involved.

The CEO should assemble the best top team they can and make sure they share the same vision for the company. Steven says when he starts a new business his process is always the same. “I employ the CEO, I create the culture and the vision and I try and get the values and the culture right so we can achieve the objective.” The leadership team is critical to the strength of that culture, he says, because leaders will hire people who embody the same values they do. “Culture is the thing that’s ultimately going to scale and it’s really hard to undo that when you’re at 100 or 200 people.”^[1]

#2

Values need to be meaningful to you and your organisation.

People are more likely to follow and believe in your values if they’re authentic. “Let your values guide you, not passing trends. The cultural landscape is constantly evolving, driven by new platforms, algorithm shifts and trends. You can’t let fads guide your decision-making. What’s important is that you stick to your values and be guided by data.”^[2]

#3

You want everyone to live your organisation’s values.

The best way to do this, Steven says, is to start at the recruitment phase, because people who naturally embody your values will fit in far more easily. “You should be able to say that is a Coca Cola person, that is a Gymshark person. It should be so unbelievably clear, even the vernacular, the way they speak, the way they conduct themselves, how nice they are to each other. There should be an element of them feeling like disciples of the company.”^[3]

Do you always know best as a leader?

In an anticipated fireside chat, entrepreneur Steven Bartlett and Investors in People CEO Paul Devoy will delve into the future of HR to inspire leaders to become catalysts for change.

#4

Roles should be designed to help the organisation achieve its objective.

In order to retain your skilled workforce, you also need to give thought to what will make a new role rewarding for the type of person you are trying to attract. “If my company was founded to create electric vehicles there’s a certain type of individual I’m going to try and hire. You then have to factor in what type of work would make that person most motivated, most effective and most happy at work. From my perspective these aren’t questions a CEO should hazard a guess at, they’re all engrained in the mission you’re trying to achieve in the world.”^[4]

#5

Leaders need to be open and transparent.

Ensure everyone understands your plan for growth or your reasoning for a difficult decision. “If you want people to come with you then explain why and, if it’s founded on good sense, then people are more likely to understand. Clarity and justification are how you inspire people.”^[5]

#6

Empower your employees to make decisions and bring about change within your organisation.

It’s important to not just ask staff for their views but to act on what they say. Here, Steve advocates using what’s known as the Kaizen methodology, a process of continually making small improvements which then have a big impact over time. It relies heavily on getting feedback from everyone in the organisation, from the CEO to the intern, and, crucially, the person giving the feedback also has to come up with and implement the change. What happens, he says, is that feedback becomes constructive, authentic and practical. “I think that’s really important. I think to avoid conflict you create those outlets. It’s all about empowerment.”^[6]

#7

Create a culture of learning.

Organisations need to be prepared for change and it was the pandemic which, according to Steven, showed all the CEOs he’s spoken to how important this was. Many companies already had the technology available to enable remote working, but it was only when we went into lockdown they realised how few of their staff knew how to use these platforms. “If you want to stand your best possible chance of success as a business, you have to instil a culture of learning…The fact that we now live on the internet means that you have no choice.”^[7]

#8

Always be looking for ways to improve.

Steven says he is always guided by the principle, “how can I be 1% better today at the thing I’m doing?” When it came to the success of his podcast, he says he and his team “obsessively” studied the data and kept trying to make a 1% improvement every single day. “We knew then,” he says, “that we’d be number one based on our trajectory.” Making tiny, incremental changes might seem unimportant, but he believes you can show their effects in one simple way: “go to Google and type ‘compounding interest calculator.’”^[8]

#9

Employee wellbeing is a business responsibility.

“Some organisations see work as getting the To Do list done – it’s transactional,” he says. “I think organisations that retain people the best, get the best out of their individuals, have the happiest individuals, provide much more than financial renumeration…they provide a supportive community.”^[9] He explains that in one of his businesses they made the number of internal communities – book clubs or football teams for example – a Key Performance Indicator. They also had an opt-out system to mental health therapy, so that no one felt stigmatised for opting in. And everyone, including him, had to regularly see the therapist. “Happier employees will work harder and serve our clients more,” he says. “And if they serve our clients more, our business will succeed.”^[10]

#10

Lead by example.

Inherent in all the examples above is Steven’s belief that leaders should lead by example. “You can’t tell anybody to work hard,” he says. “That doesn’t seem like a good approach to take. But [at Social Chain] there’s been a culture of trust and hard work and getting the work done. And that’s how Social Chain has always grown.”^[11]

We can’t wait to hear more from Steven when he speaks at our Make Work Better conference on September 20, where he’ll be joined on the stage by our CEO, Paul Devoy. Together, they’ll delve into all the hot topics facing HR professionals right now, so sign up to bag your front row seat. We look forward to seeing you there.

References

^[1], ^[3], ^[6], ^[9] Webinar recording | Build the winning team with Steven Bartlett | YuLife

^[2], ^[10] Steven Bartlett shares lessons for leadership success – Think with Google

^[4], ^[5] Unite 22 – Employee engagement lessons from a CEO with Steven Bartlett – YouTube

^[7] Steven Bartlett: ‘If you want a successful business, you have to instil a culture of learning’ | British GQ (gq-magazine.co.uk)

^[8] Dragons’ Den star Steven Bartlett – five lessons for business leaders on Elon Musk, podcasts and thinking differently – Business Live (business-live.co.uk)

^[11] Steven Bartlett — High Performance (thehighperformancepodcast.com)

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Apprenticeships can hold the key to a successful future for our students

Investors in People — Thu, 17 Aug 2023 13:31:06 +0000

Article Summary

Investors in People invest in their people, their community, and the thousands of employees within this collective group. Supporting apprenticeships is of great benefit to an individual and an organisation, but also to the wider society, with ‘Making Work Better’ a key driver for us all.

On A-Level results day, a day that hundreds of thousands of young adults will be thinking about their next steps up the career ladder, our CEO Paul Devoy has given his thoughts on why IIP’s community holds the key to the success of our future business leaders.

You hear lots of people saying on exam results day to not worry if you don’t get the results you hoped for. It’s true, but not necessarily that reassuring in the immediate aftermath of exam disappointment.

My own personal experience is that the people who did the best economically from the St Mungo’s Class of 85 in Falkirk, tended to be the ones who didn’t do well academically. The top academic performers have been outperformed by those with the most entrepreneurial spirit.

Both those groups were the exception rather than the rule though. Only 5% of people in 1985 went to university and no one from my Council Estate went to Higher education straight from High School. The vast majority were looking for a job – there weren’t many, so people ended up, like me on a YTS (Youth Training Scheme) for the princely sum of £27.40 a week.

The labour market is now tighter than it has ever been, so in theory there should be much more opportunities for young people today compared to 1985. Employers are struggling to find the skilled staff they need. But I hear many young people say they are struggling to find the apprenticeship they want or not necessarily finding the role they are looking for after university.

It’s not a new problem. The UK has struggled for decades to find the sweet spot between the demand for skills and the supply of skills it needs. The percentage of people going to university now is over 50% compared to the 5% in 1985.

Yet an article in the Economist in April quoted an IFS study that found 25% of men and 15% of women got a negative return on their investment in Higher Education. We also know that with the increase in tuition fees, many are looking at Apprenticeships as an alternative option. But there are not enough high-quality Apprenticeship opportunities for young people to meet the demand.

We invest in apprentices

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12 and 24-month check-ins
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Holding businesses to the highest standards

In my view, we have a demand side issue. Unless we can support employers to invest in more high skilled jobs and the training to support them, we are not going to solve our productivity puzzle and drive prosperity.

That’s why at Investors in People, we support employers to commit to high standards of People Management and to offer high quality apprenticeships. The thing is, there is no good reason not to do it.

We know businesses with excellent leadership, well trained and supported managers, operating in a positive culture that invest in the potential of their people, outperform the rest. They also help create great, well-paid jobs with progression and development opportunities for the people that work there. That’s why our purpose at Investors in People is to Make Work Better as we know it’s great for organisations, individuals, and society.

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