Many travel companies are not fully harnessing apprenticeships despite all firms having access to funding to develop and retain talent, delegates at Travel Weekly’s People Summit were told.
Experts said many misconceptions remain about apprenticeships, including that they are only for young people and do not compare favourably to other qualifications. In fact, apprenticeships can be used to train staff of all ages, and can go up to Level 7, the equivalent of a Master’s degree.
Sue Ledgard, corporate account manager at Grant Thornton, said: “I think the very word apprenticeships can send some people running for the hills [but] they’re not a walk in the park, and they shouldn’t be underestimated. The quality now is right up there.”
She added that any business of any size “would benefit from looking at apprenticeships”.
“It’s not just a 16-year-old coming into their very first job,” she said. “It’s about upskilling, developing, training, retaining staff. And that’s what apprenticeships are very useful for.”
Ledgard also advised embedding an “apprenticeship culture within your organisation”.
“I think another reason that may put people off having apprenticeships in their business is that it’s time-consuming,” she said. “But actually, the opposite is true.”
Rebecca Wakelin, early talent and apprenticeship manager at Tui (pictured), said it was clear when she joined the company that “apprenticeships were in their DNA”. Tui currently has 300 apprentices on its programme, with 150 of those in retail.
“There are pockets of the business when we don’t have apprentices, and we’re working on that,” she said. “I have to make sure that we get the buy-in from the top of that business area all the way down. There’s no point just trying to infiltrate with a few apprentices here and there, because it won’t work. You have to have everybody fully engaged and on board with it.”
Despite being urged to embrace apprenticeships, which can be part funded by larger companies through apprentice levy contributions or by smaller companies through a centralised pot, companies were also warned not to pursue them for the wrong reasons.
“We have a lot of companies come to us who want to just go for the apprenticeship salary, because they feel that that’s what they can afford,” said Jo Roche, managing director at Northern Training Academy. “In our experience, that is short-sighted.”
She said companies who were successfully using apprenticeships viewed new starters as equivalents to other staff, adding: “We work with some travel companies who are offering just a mainstream salary as they would if they didn’t come in as an apprentice. And for every one vacancy, we’re getting about 18 enquiries.
“I think my biggest advice to companies looking at apprenticeships is pay a fair salary, be fair to the young person, show them the career pathway that you’re offering to them.”
The panel also discussed how apprentices could be prime candidates for digital and technology roles in the industry, with Roche confirming her business is supporting a digital marketing apprentice within the Future You Foundation.
“The digital side needs to be talked about a lot more as well, particularly in the event of Covid, and all the challenges everybody’s had,” she said. “There seems to be a massive opportunity to have a voice to tell the industry it’s not just travel agents, and it’s not just flight attendants.”
“Our industry has such a huge variety of different occupations available,” she added. “We need to get out there and vocalise it, and by upporting a digital marketer, we’re proving we understand that this is what’s needed in the industry.”
Wakelin said Tui offered a level 7 digital technology solutions specialist apprenticeship.
But she admitted: “In spaces such as technology, digital, data science, we [travel firms] are not the first people students think of when they want to start their career in those areas.”
The People Summit was held in central London last week, and marked the launch of Travel Weekly’s career publication Take Off in Travel, aimed at those looking to take their first steps in the industry.