SOLAS Skills to Advance eNewsletter July 2021

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Welcome to the

Skills to Advance

eNewsletter

Issue 6, July 2021

Skills to Advance - latest news

Enterprise Engagement

This issue focuses on how ETBs engage with enterprise, building positive relationships with local businesses to identify and meet their skills needs. The ETBs are a local resource for businesses, helping them to develop their workforce by providing relevant and flexible upskilling and reskilling opportunities.

Promoting a culture of Training and Development

Waterford and Wexford ETB (WWETB) is working in partnership with Tech Mahindra Business Services to upskill their staff, promoting a culture of training and development for organisational growth.

Tech Mahindra is an Indian-owned Business Process Outsourcer with a Contact Centre in Waterford and a staff of 240. The Quality Manager within the company is creating a new culture of training and development in partnership with WWETB as their main employee demographic tends to be under-30 years of age having Level 5 qualifications or lower.

WWETB engaged with the company to address their staff upskilling needs by providing a pathway of further education and training utilising the opportunities presented by Skills to Advance. Initially they provided a QQI level 6 programme in Training Needs Identification and Design and this led to a follow-up programme in Training Delivery and Evaluation.

This training is equipping staff with transversal skills to apply for internal promotions. For example, a Service Agent could be promoted to Team Lead or make a lateral move into a training role to meet the future skills needs of the company. The training enables them to develop training protocols to position the company to accept new business, new products, services or new innovative approaches to service delivery.

Bernice McCarthy-Flynn, Facilities Manager Tech Mahindra Business Services Waterford.

Bernice McCarthy-Flynn, Facilities Manager Tech Mahindra commented “Employees found the training hugely beneficial to both their personal and professional development, even though finding the balance between work/ life and continuous education has been challenging.”

“Feedback from the employees who took part has been nothing short of fantastic” said Michael Duggan Training and Development Manager, Tech Mahindra.

Hats off to a new partnership

Hanna Hats, a third generation family business in Donegal, took the opportunity of a slow down in business during COVID-19 to upskill their staff. Eleanor Hanna, General Manager, approached Donegal ETB for help.

The ETB developed a customized training in design for the company, focusing on upskilling the existing staff in pattern drafting and new product creation.

Photo of Raymond Travers with his designs

A tie and bowtie designed by Theresa Murphy

Photos: top right - Raymond Travers, Hanna Hats employee, with his designs; below, left to right - designs by Izabela Wyterwal, Bernard Fisher, Theresa Murphy and Melissa Mullin.

Read more and view additional images

LWETB launches Leadership and Management programme

Longford and Westmeath Education and Training Board (LWETB) launched Leading through Change: ILM Level 4 Leadership and Management in May 2021. Speaking about LWETB’s decision to offer the initiative, Antonine Healy, Director of Further Education and Training said: “Leadership and Management are essential skills for every organisation regardless of its size. The development of leaders and managers can contribute to the ongoing success of any business. We are delighted to be involved with the initiative”.

LWETB promoted the new programme to enterprise in the region with the support of Athlone Chamber, and one of the employers that gave a positive response was the Hodson Bay Group. Like many in the hospitality sector adversely affected by the pandemic, the Hodson Bay adopted a positive approach, using the time to develop its staff.

Garry Walsh, Commercial Director Hodson Bay Group, explained: “We embarked on numerous projects during the lockdown, one being to maximise the opportunity for people development and training. We have close to 40 members of our teams benefitting from the course in Leadership and Management skills. The collaboration with LWETB has been a real positive during these times. The development of our people is an obvious benefit, but I feel that this is just the start of our collaboration with LWETB.’’

Minister Peter Burke in commenting on the programme recommended that all business “consider the benefits of upskilling to meet the challenging times for business that lie ahead, but also to embrace the possibilities that exist for enterprise in a post Covid-19 landscape”. He commended the Hodson Bay Hotel “for the foresight to use the recent close of business period to such a positive end.”

Course participants and LWETB staff on the pier in Athlone

L to R: Garry Walsh, Commercial Director, Hodson Bay Group; Miriam Furey, Front Office Executive, Hodson Bay Hotel (participant on course); Ruth Allingham, Deputy Front Office Manager, Hodson Bay Hotel (participant on course); Pat Fleming, Recruitment, LWETB; Ronan Murray, Area Training Manager, LWETB; Tom Grennan, Assistant training Manager, LWETB; Gerry Mc Inerney, CEO, Athlone Chamber; Hugh Connor, Assistant Training Manager, LWETB; Liz Glennon, Enterprise Engagement; LWETB.

Implementing a staff coaching and mentoring culture

In 2021, Kildare and Wicklow Education Training Board (KWETB) collaborated with Killarney Telecommunications (KTL) Naas to support the implementation of a coaching and mentoring culture within their organisation. To apply this, KWETB offered the Skills to Advance QQI Level 6 in Coaching Models of Practice.

KTL is recognised as a leading provider in engineering services to the telecommunications and utility sectors. The group, founded in 1998 has grown significantly over the last number of years with operations in both Ireland and the UK.

The need for coaching and mentoring training arose when the company was registering apprentices onto the Data and Telecommunications Network Technician Apprenticeship. Paddy Brogan Operations Director stated: “Training and further development of our staff is a core principle of KTL. Through our partnership with KWETB and their ongoing support, KTL has been armed with the tools and knowledge to mentor and coach the next generation of key staff on their journey in the telecommunications industry.”

The eleven employees who completed the course all shared positive experiences. Sinead Larkin, HR Manager at KTL, said:

“The feedback from staff has been excellent – all have really enjoyed the course and it was great for their own personal development. We are looking forward to starting a mentoring program in the company shortly.”

Claire Scally, a KTL employee said: “This course really supported my personal development. I learned so much and gained self-confidence. I look forward to putting it into practice in my workplace and personal life.”

Paddy Brogan Operations Director commented: “With the experienced gained through the Skills to Advance Coaching Models of Practice course, we are now in a position to develop and integrate our new apprentices into our business and on to full time engineering roles in the organisation. KTL hopes to expand our in-take of apprentices in the coming years which will be of huge benefit to the Data and Communications industry in Ireland.”

KTL premises, Naas, Co. Kildare.

Helping businesses become sustainable

One of LOETB’s strategic priorities is sustainability with the goal of supporting communities, employees and businesses in the region to become more sustainable.

The past 12 months have been extremely demanding for businesses in the region facing the twin challenges of Covid and Brexit. The LOETB Enterprise Support Team has been proactively engaging with SMEs in the region to become more sustainable, competitive and to future proof their businesses through the Lean Management Green Belt programme.

The Lean Management Green Belt programme helps organisations to identify waste, maximise value, increase productivity and improve employee engagement. Given the nature of businesses in Laois and Offaly, with 98% of them having less than 10 employees, the ETB has taken the approach of targeting companies in the area with similar training needs and providing training for them collectively.

A graphic illustrating 4 programmes, 15 companies and 45 participants

Participants on the programme work on real-world business improvement projects delivering cost savings of at least €25k each. In 2020, LOETB engaged with 72 employees, representing 30 local companies, delivering cost savings of €750k. Currently there are 45 participants from 15 companies engaged on 4 programmes, with projected cost savings in excess of €1.5 million.

Case Study

A focus for LOETB over the past 12 months has been working with the Hospitality industry to support them to re-open. They worked with the Midlands Park Hotel in Portlaoise, who reported significant cost savings after participating in the training. The hotel explained that one of their key metrics, ‘Room Changeover Cost’ pre-shutdown was €10.85, but post shutdown it would have gone up to around to €21.70 per changeover. This would mean a 6-month changeover cost increase of €188K.

Now with process improvements they reduced the pre-shutdown cost by €1.63 per room or 15%. This has resulted in cost savings of €167K per year on a 50% occupancy rate.

A chart showing the room changeover costs

Innovation through Collaboration

The Innovation through Collaboration Fund 2021 is now open to applications, with a deadline of 7th October 2021 for receipt of proposals. This is the second time the fund has run, following on from a successful call in 2019. The fund provides support for ETBs, in partnership with other organisations, to harness innovation to effectively implement Skills to Advance.

ETBs are invited to partner with at least one other ETB and another organisation in making their proposal. Any organisations which add value to the project may be included, for example EdTech companies, representative bodies, professional associations, research institutions, community-based organisations, other bodies or agencies, or private companies. Partners may be domestic or international.

Key areas of focus in this round span Promotions, Support & Information, Learning Design, Flexible Delivery, Skills Resilience, Regional & Sectoral, and Specific Needs. Projects must align to the objectives of the Skills to Advance policy framework. The aim is to develop innovative approaches to upskilling employees particularly those in lower skilled jobs or in sectors vulnerable to displacement;

A graphic of a lightbulb and machine cogs

SMEs who need assistance in investing in and developing their workforce; or industry sectors with skills needs arising from emerging opportunities or economic vulnerability.

The funding call and response templates may be found here.

Queries in relation to this fund can be directed to [email protected].

Please note, to ensure that all ETBs receive standard information, clarifications and queries in relation to the call process will be published to all ETBs.

Like to contribute to our eNewsletter?

If your ETB has a story about a Skills to Advance programme and its participants or an event that you would like to see featured in the next issue of this eNewsletter please email [email protected] or [email protected] - the deadline for submissions to be considered for our September issue is Tuesday 7th September.

Contact Information

For Skills to Advance contacts in the ETBs click here.

For queries about Skills to Advance email us at [email protected].

SOLAS
Block 1, Castleforbes House, Castleforbes Road, Dublin 1, D01 A8N0
[email protected]

(01) 533 2500

Find out more at www.skillstoadvance.ie.

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