On Monday at our Jobs Summit we announced the next stage of the Conservative initiative to encourage companies to provide pre-employment training: Service Academies.
These Academies are aimed at the long-term unemployed and young people who are finding it difficult to get a foothold in the jobs market.
This announcement focused on the Hospitality and Leisure sector because this is the area of the economy where growth is projected – when we have finally pulled our way out of this long recession – and where there are lots of jobs at all levels, including at the entry level.
The initiative was strongly supported by eleven of the top names in the sector, such as Intercontinental Hotels Group (the biggest hotels group in the world by rooms), Whitbread, Starbucks, Gala Coral, Pizza Express and Travelodge. Perhaps most interesting was the reason for this strong support. More than anything else, it reflected the excitement of companies at the prospect of a programme which does not have the heavy hand of Government compressing it.
The Service Academy approach ensures that the training content, materials, structure and means of delivery will all be designed and determined by the businesses involved. The Academy will offer the longer-term unemployed a two week course, followed by a four-week work placement. The course will earn participants a certificate which companies across the sector will recognise as an industry standard for work readiness. The top firms involved will aim to offer 20% of participants’ full-time jobs themselves, but other certificated participants will enjoy a head start when looking for jobs right across the sector.
We decided to start with the service industries for another reason. While we are now a predominantly service economy, surveys like the GMI-Amholt Nation Brands Survey suggest that this country is no better than average when it comes to service culture and attitudes – even though our companies have systems second to none. So this represents a golden opportunity to spread the soft skills and attitudes necessary for us to become service world-beaters. Just in time for the Olympics.
( 2 comments ) Tags: jobs, Jobs Summit, long-term unemployed, Service Academies, workplace
Comment by Mark callaghan on March 18, 2010 at 7:07 pm
I hope this doesn’t sound cynical, I can see some good aspects to this scheme but it sounds a little thin on substance. If the companies themselves are providing the training, who will determine the standard if that training? Will there be a set of key skills or core objectives that this training
must provide?
I am guessing the participants will still be in receipt of benefits whilst training, would this scheme alter their status in any way thus removing them from the unemployment figures for the duration of the placement?
I can see why this would be attractive to service industries, they traditionally provide a lot of minimum wage employment and this would be a way for them to employ without any form of contract or assurance of continued employment.
Thinking about it, it sounds similar to the old YOPS scheme except this wouldn’t just involve young people. Is there any more detail available anywhere on this? I would like to have a much more informed position than simply being skeptical!
Comment by Louise Jolson on March 21, 2010 at 6:19 pm
These service academies sound like a fantastic idea to provide on the job training oppurtunities for young people who can gain qualifications while gaining practical experience. I hope the Service Academy scheme really takes off and gains momentum from even more hotel groups and leisure companies. So many hotels employ nearly all foreign nationals while British young people are forced on to the unemployment register. Our young unemployed deserve more oppurtunities – this scheme will provide them at last.