Back to School: should September be the month to get your workforce learning?
September has always had a ‘back to school’ feel about it. New term, new stationery and, for many of us, a lingering sense that we ought to be learning something.
It is perhaps no accident that the Festival of Learning: Have a Go Month takes place each September, working with this ‘back to school’ feel and inspiring adults across the UK to embrace new educational opportunities.
That makes September a good opportunity for HR teams to think about learning and development. The Festival of Learning’s ‘Have a Go’ message is deliberately broad: learning does not have to mean committing to a lengthy qualification. It might mean trying a new skill, attending a taster session or exploring a different area of work.
So, what can employers do to encourage employees to ‘have a go’?
Optimise your appraisal process
Effective appraisals should be about more than reviewing last year’s objectives and setting new ones.
They provide an opportunity to ask employees where they want to develop and what they would like to try. That might identify an obvious training course, but it could equally lead to mentoring, job shadowing, involvement in a project outside the employee’s usual remit or a secondment.
Managers should also be careful not to make assumptions about who is interested in development. The employee approaching retirement may still want to acquire new skills. A working mother should not be overlooked for a demanding development opportunity because a manager assumes she will not want the additional commitment. Nor should an employer assume that a disabled employee will find a particular course, secondment or project too difficult. Well-intentioned assumptions can still create discrimination risks.
Consider options to fund relevant training
If your accountant has a yearning to ‘have a go’ at aerial acrobatics in their pursuit of ongoing learning then, understandably, the business is unlikely to want to consider funding this. If, however, an employee wants to upskill in an area which may bring benefits to the business then you could consider funding this training. If you do, then consider entering into a training costs repayment agreement – to make sure that you can seek to recover the outlay if the employee leaves the business during, or shortly after, completion of training. A word of caution, repayment of training fees agreements are vulnerable to legal challenge.
Think beyond training courses
Secondments can be an excellent way of learning by doing. An internal secondment might give someone experience of another department or role, while an external secondment can provide exposure to a client, supplier, charity or another organisation.
If a secondment is an available ‘have a go’ option for your business, you should make sure that it is clearly documented. Agree the duration, duties, reporting arrangements, pay and benefits, what happens to the employee’s substantive role and the arrangements for returning to it.
External secondments require additional thought. The parties should be clear about who remains the employer, who manages the individual day-to-day, confidentiality and data protection, liability for their actions, intellectual property and how the arrangement can be brought to an end.
Remember flexible working
Learning does not necessarily need to be organised or funded by the employer. An employee may simply need some flexibility to pursue it themselves.
The statutory right to request flexible working is available for all employees from the first day of employment – and can be requested for any reason. An employee could, for example, ask to compress their hours, change their working pattern or work differently to accommodate a part-time degree or other course.
Employers do not have to agree every request, but they should approach it with an open mind and consider whether it can work in practice. A request should not be treated as less worthy simply because the employee wants the time for education rather than a more traditional reason such as childcare.
Make September a prompt
Supporting learning does not necessarily require a large training budget. HR could use September to advertise existing opportunities, encourage managers to revisit development plans, establish mentoring or job-shadowing schemes, invite expressions of interest in secondments or simply ask employees: what would you like to have a go at?