Borough Employer Panel Research Presented to SLLP WFD Group

1. Borough Employer Panel Research Presented to SLLP WFD Group By: Cindy Bartello - Skills Alliance Manager

2. Local Skills Agenda • National drive by Government to involve employers in the skills agenda. • Key driver of the South London Skills Alliance is that it is employer led. Project commissioned to enhance dialogue. • Need to ascertain local employer skills issues to qualify regional and national data. • Also to create a mechanism for focused partnership working between LSC, LAs, Chambers and colleges. • Info useful to the LSC’s emerging Borough Partnership Teams.

3. Local Context • South London has the highest proportion of employers in London with: • Hard to fill vacancies - 6.5% (London average) 5.6% • Skills shortage vacancies 4.9% (La 4.2%) • Skills Gaps – 14.1%Almost 26,000 workers (La 12.8%) • National skills gaps 17% - London 12.8% • In London only 21% of employers who train their staff do so at an FE college. This is the lowest % in any region. • (Source: National Employer Skills Survey 2005)

4. Project Brief • Using Why Not? Innovation Fund formula, proposals were requested last September. • Activity delivered from Oct-March 2006. • All contractors were Chambers and/or LA. • Mixed activity: one to one visits, desktop research, mail shots, online surveys, meetings and events. • Over 220 employers involved. Mixed size/sectors. • Anecdotal rather than statistical data captured. • Individual reports and summary are available at www.sllp.org.uk

5. Synopsis of Findings • Employers ‘vaguely’ aware of LSC programmes. • Some knowledge of Apprenticeships and Addmore, although details sketchy. • Limited knowledge of ESF projects, ‘features and benefits rather than sources and origins tend to stick in peoples’ minds’.

6. Recruitment Issues • Literacy and numeracy skills are still a barrier to recruitment for people of all ages. • Employers look for people with an existing skills base. • Language skills can also be a barrier to recruitment. • Localised recruitment can affect the availability of high level skills e.g. surveyors in Croydon.

7. Recruitment • Many employers less interested in recruiting under 19s due to perceived employability issues relating to soft skills, literacy and numeracy problems – See Page 5 of report. • Retail and hospitality more inclined to recruit this age group. Need young people to sell/serve to the young. • Most employers happier to recruit older workers due to work ethic and initiative.

8. Sourcing Training • The internet is the key tool when sourcing training. • - Google frequently used as a search engine. • Most employers questioned had not used the EGPT website. • Brokerage – Personalised letters, web referrals preferred. Not emails and cold calls. Localised point of contact preferred. • Few employers think of using a college in the first instance, although some evidence that perceptions are changing.

9. Training • Most employers have in-house HR and training or use private trainers and consultants where needed. • Watertight specifications are required before external funding is purchased. • Sales, marketing, business planning, customer service and IT and management training remain popular with employers. • The relevance of training appears to be more critical than the cost, although time for training and value for money are factors.

10. Next Steps • Continue to develop employer engagement activity at a borough level. • LSC Partnership Teams to utilise the contacts and information gained to date. • Work together to improve brokerage arrangements to assist in the delivery of Tain to Gain and other programmes. • Partners to assist with the promotion of EGTP website. • Partners to support colleges and WBL providers improve their offer and marketing to employers.