Flexible workforce development fund: first year evaluation

5. What Employers Told Us

This Chapter provides a brief summary of the main messages arising from the employers’ survey, and the detailed write-up is provided in Appendix E.

5.1 Context

In Appendix B we provide an overview of the challenges encountered and the approach taken to progressing this element of the evaluation.

By way of summary, a total of 187 responses were received to the opt-in-opt-out survey, of which 172 employers opted-in to the telephone survey. A total of 82 telephone interviews were subsequently undertaken with levy-paying employers (response rate of circa 50%).

While we received opt-ins from most of the colleges employers are engaging with on the Fund, there are some gaps ^[9] . In these cases, we are not certain that the colleges issued the opt-in-opt-out link to employers on their patch despite reminders from EKOS and the SFC.

Among other things, the survey sought to find out more about employers level of awareness of the FWDF, views on accessing and using the Fund for workforce development, satisfaction levels, and whether employers plan to access the Fund in future years.

Table 5.1: Employers Primary Research

	Number	% of Total
Employers in receipt of FWDF	73	89%
Aware of the FWDF but decided not to apply	5	6%
Aware of the FWDF and working on an application/agreeing training	4	5
Total	82	100%

In addition, case studies have been developed to showcase employers and employees experience of the Fund and training ( Appendix F) ^[10] .

5.2 Main Messages

Awareness of the Fund

All employers that took part in the survey were aware of the FWDF, and the main way they found out about it was direct contact from a college they had an existing relationship with (38%). This was followed by signposted to the Fund by another organisation (16%) or signposted by another college or employer (both 13%).

Prior to FWDF

The majority of employers had previously engaged with college(s) prior to the Fund (75%), and in the main this related to workforce development and Modern Apprenticeships. However, the Fund is also beginning to reach some employers who are engaging with colleges for the first time.

While many employers reported a good understanding of how the college sector could help with workforce development prior to engagement with the FWDF (71%) - and in part this is reflective of the fact that many had prior experience of college engagement – there has still been a positive shift in levels of understanding:

• an increase of good/very good ratings from 71% before to 90% now; and
• a corresponding decrease in employers reporting a poor/very poor understanding (18% before to only 2% now).

Workforce Development and Skills Gaps

A positive finding is that over four-fifths of employers reported that the delivery of skills and training is a key activity for their business, and in the main use a mix of internal on-the-job training and external training providers to meet their needs.

The main skills gaps identified by employers were leadership and management, IT and digital, technical/specialist skills, succession planning, and health and safety. As reported later, these match the types of training most commonly accessed via the Fund.

Views on the Fund

Overall, there are high levels of satisfaction with employers’ initial contact with colleges on the FWDF. This ranged from 77% for college’s understanding of the business’s needs to a high of 96% for clarity on how much funding was available. Feedback on initial contact centred on colleges being very clear, helpful, flexible and supportive through the application process.

The main area of dissatisfaction in terms of initial contact was ease of finding out about the Fund, with employers stating that they had seen little or no promotion of the Fund, and only became aware of it when, for example, a college contacted them.

Employers in receipt of funding are in the main satisfied with many aspects of the application process. Highest levels of satisfaction are for help received with the application form, the time taken to receive a decision on the application, and ease of completing the form (satisfaction ranges from 85% to 96%).

Employers are, however, less satisfied with application deadlines (25% dissatisfied), and this mainly relates to changes to deadlines over the first year of the Fund (and communications). Some employers felt that the application had to be rushed to meet deadlines, and in some cases then found out that the deadline had been extended again.

A wide range of upskilling and reskilling training has been/is being provided through the FWDF, and in the main this relates to leadership and management, health and safety, and IT and digital skills, which directly match onto the skills gaps reported earlier.

Some wider points are that:

• 70% of employers report that training will lead to formal qualifications; and
• a wide range of employees are taking part in the training – with a particular emphasis on older workers (50+) and those belonging to equalities groups.

A number of wider positive messages emerged from the survey:

• almost all employers report that the training provided by the colleges will help address skills gaps (90%);
• the majority report that colleges were able to provide the training needed (75%);
• 79% agreed/strongly agreed that the training was value for money; and
• 79% reported that the training has either met or exceeded their expectations, of which almost one-third report that their expectations have been exceeded.

There was some support, however, among employers for:

• having had the opportunity to choose another college(s) to provide the training or a private sector provider (55% and 40% respectively). In part this interest was expressed from national or multi-site employers, as well as those looking to access specific forms of training; and
• having access to increased funding, proportionate to money paid into the levy.

While the Fund is still at an early stage, almost all employers reported at least one current or future benefit.

Table 5.2: Benefits Achieved Now and Future (Top 4 Reported)

Achieved Now		Expected to Achieve Over Next year
Increased skills levels of employees	53%	Increased skills levels of employees	63%
Saved money in training budget	53%	Increased confidence of employees	52%
Strengthened an existing relationship with college	48%	Employees have gained increased levels of qualifications	46%
Increased engagement with college	42%	Development new/improved process/procedures	41%

The findings from the survey suggest relatively high levels of additionality which is a positive message – 74% of employers report that either none or only some of the training would have been undertaken in the absence of the FWDF.

The largely positive experience of the Fund is further evidenced by the fact that 29% of employers have already accessed follow-on support from the college as a direct result of the FWDF training, and 59% report that they are likely to engage with the college in the future (e.g. Modern Apprenticeships and additional workforce development training).

Future Workforce Development Needs

The majority of employers reported that workforce development and training will be important/very important to their business over the next few years (98%).

Anticipated skills gaps are largely in line with those reported earlier (e.g. leadership and management, technical/specialist, IT and digital, succession planning, and health and safety).

The main future drivers of skills/labour problems are reported as:

• an ageing workforce (66%);
• technological change (58%); and
• Brexit (46%).

Recommend to Others and Strong Repeat Business

Further positive findings include that:

• almost all employers would recommend the FWDF to another employer (96%); and
• all expressed an interest in accessing the FWDF in future years (100%).