On 28 April, the European Alliance for Apprenticeships (EAfA) held the live discussion ‘How can employers be encouraged to establish apprenticeships? Understanding the barriers to implementation in small and medium-sized enterprises’. The live discussion was chaired by Dr Jeff Bridgford, Visiting Senior Research Fellow in the School of Education, Communication and Society, King’s College London, and panellists shared good practice examples from Austria, the Netherlands, Romania and Spain.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent the backbone of the economy. With 24 million SMEs in the EU, they account for 99% of EU businesses. The COVID-19 pandemic has hit SMEs particularly hard, and many businesses are facing challenging times ahead. Apprentices can give SMEs access to skills and can aid broader economic recovery. One of EAfA’s priorities is to incentivise support for SMEs to provide quality and effective apprenticeships.

Encouraging employers to establish apprenticeship schemes

The live discussion highlighted the importance of actively supporting employers to help them establish apprenticeship schemes. The panel agreed that raising awareness amongst employers, in particular SMEs, about apprenticeships was also essential, as was supporting employers who are already familiar with apprenticeships to continue offering their schemes. Some panellists also highlighted the role of specialised schools to help broaden apprentices’ skills beyond the more specialist training that might be provided by companies, especially in SMEs.

Overcoming the challenges facing employers when implementing apprenticeships

During the discussion the panellists made a number of suggestions for making apprenticeships attractive to employers, including: 

• Providing direct and indirect financial support, such as through tax relief.
• Providing nonfinancial support, including reducing administrative burdens and ensuring apprenticeships are flexible to the needs of the business.
• Making advice and guidance available, including mentoring and networking opportunities to support employers setting up apprenticeship schemes.
• Providing funding for apprentices’ living costs, particularly for older students who wish to retrain.
• Establishing good quality local training centres to help local enterprises develop the skills they need to be competitive.
• Promoting apprenticeships to make them an attractive pathway for motivated students.

The panellists all agreed that the key to success is ensuring that employers are aware of apprenticeships and that the schemes are an attractive proposition that will work for the business and student. Creating relationships between employers and training providers was essential to ensure schemes can supply employers with the skills and employees that they need as part of a rounded educational and training programme.

The following guests participated in the panel discussion:

• Dominik Jenewein, Managing Director of furniture manufacturer JEWA, member of the Austrian economic chamber (WKO), and spokesman of Tyrolean Junge Wirtschaft (Young Economy);

• Ildikó Pataki, Education Policy Advisor for the Municipality of Reșița, Romania and the Re-Edu Smart initiative;

• Mirjam van den Broek, Policy Advisor, MBO Raad, the association for vocational education institutions in the Netherlands;

• Norbert Schöbel, Team Leader, Vocational Education and Training, Apprenticeships and Adult Learning, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Commission;

• Sílvia Miró, Training and Employment Director of Pimec, an employer organisation representing half a million SMEs and half a million self-employed in Catalonia.

You can watch the webinar recording online, and download the event report from the ‘Related documents’ section below.