Employer Engagement A Strategic Approach

1. Employer EngagementA Strategic Approach Tristram Hughes, Research Manager Raj Patel, Programme Manager

2. Outline for this afternoon • What is employer engagement? • What is your strategy? • Knowing your market • Being responsive

3. Our recent work in this area • Developing Training Excellence (and previously TQS) • Research with employers into demand for and perceptions of HE and FE, including employer survey for Linking London • Supporting universities on market research and CPD strategies • Evaluation of HEFCE’s Transforming Workforce Development Programme

4. What is employer engagement?

5. The importance of employer engagement • Its place and priority within institutions varies • Following policy trends • Intrinsic link to apprenticeships and vocational provision in FE • In HE it can be less central, but depends on the institution • Complements wider research/KE/employability activities • Valuable source of income

6. Employer engagement challenges • Competitive market • Doing more with less • Institutional challenges • Shifting financial burden from state to employers/individuals • Less co-funding and subsidy “Taxpayers should not be involved in subsidising employers by paying for workplace activity that includes large amounts of firm-specific training” Alison Wolf

7. Your experience • How do you define employer engagement? • Has this definition changed? • How important is employer engagement to your institution? • What challenges are you facing?

8. What is your strategy?

9. Building blocks for strategy

10. Standalone

11. Hub and spoke • Departments/faculties • Employer engagement unit

12. Distributed • Departments/faculties

13. Developing an effective WFD offer EMPLOYER / INDIVIDUAL MARKET FOR WfD Product development Market analysis Capability review COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES WfD OFFER

14. Capability strategy

15. What is your strategy? • Do you have a written employer engagement strategy or strategies? • How do these fit within other institutional priorities/strategies? • How does your strategy inform your operating model?

16. Knowing your market

17. CPD market • It is a big market • It is a crowded market • Individuals and employers are two distinct but related segments – will require different approaches... • ...but 50% of individuals select CPD provider on behalf of their employer

18. Linking London employer survey – HLS (2009) Base: 211 Base: 211 Base: 223 Base: 302 Base: Employers with 50+ employees

19. Institutional approaches to market intelligence • Using secondary data sources – Labour Force Survey, etc • Coordinating with Jobcentre Plus, SSCs, professional bodies and other stakeholders • Customer voice research with existing and prospective customers • Satisfaction surveys • Focus groups • Alumni surveys (focusing on alumni as future customers) • Competitor analysis

20. Market positioning

21. How do you understand your market? • Surveys? • Consultations, focus groups? • Consulting professional bodies? • Sector skills councils? • Alumni surveys? • At what level? • Institution wide? • Faculty/Department? • Specific qualifications/courses?

22. Coffee break?

23. Being responsive

24. Playing to your strengths • What are you known for? • Do you know what you’re known for? How? • What makes you authoritative? • Why would an employer want to buy from you? • Customer satisfaction/repeat business • What can you build on? • Internal consultations • Market positioning against competitors • Can you collaborate to build a more complete offer?

25. Being Responsive: Basic, Performance & Excitement Characteristics

26. The employer’s journey: how satisfaction evolves

27. Barriers to Training? “Formal training doesn’t deliver skills I need” “Previous training hasn’t delivered!” “It’s too expensive” ? “My staff may leave or start asking for more money.” “I just don’t know much about what’s available.” “It’s going to be too disruptive”

28. Barriers to Training Disruption to work patterns Financial cost Lack of knowledge about the range of provision available Concern staff will become more susceptible to poaching Lack of suitable training provision Reluctance of staff Concern acquisition of new skills will lead to higher wage demands Previous training less beneficial than hoped Formal training not the best way to develop skills Previous training not delivered in the past

29. The Improvement Framework…

30. Five principles… Ready CommunicationsExcellent Training Organisationscommunicate readily, clearly and frequently with all stakeholders about what the organisation is doing to satisfy  their needs. Rigorous AnalysisExcellent Training Organisations rely on facts and rigorous analysis to make decisions on strategy and service delivery, securing impact for customers’ businesses. Responsive ServiceExcellent Training Organisations respond to customers’ needs and expectations with high and responsivestandards of service, driving customer satisfaction. Robust DeploymentExcellent Training Organisations are robust  in deploying  their internal plans and their proposals to customers, achieving sustained business results. Rich ContentExcellent Training Organisations draw oninnovation and best practice to create and deliver rich contentwhich secures impact  for customers’ businesses.

31. For more information Tristram Hughes tristram.hughes@cfe.org.uk Raj Patel raj.patel@cfe.org.uk 0116 229 3300 www.cfe.org.uk www.trainingexcellence.co.uk