The Benefits of the ‘Apprenticeship System’ in the ‘New Normal’

What is The ‘Apprenticeship System’? 

An apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession in a real working environment. In this system the employer helps the apprentices earn their trade or profession in exchange for their continued work. The intended outcome of this system is for countries to ramp up the size of their talent pools and create a robust supply of manpower across industries. 

The system itself has developed through the ages, globally.. However it is interesting to know that the same drivers of the system continue to be prevalent in European culture today, with its premise being, ‘to learn on-the-job’. 

Model Countries Using the System and New Adopters 

In Switzerland, the goal of the apprenticeship system is to provide quality education and create productive, lifelong learners across society. The system is deeply embedded in the business culture and a majority of Swiss students chose to do an apprenticeship, in comparison to a much smaller percentage who choose a traditional university pathway. The employers are deeply involved in this system knowing that if they don't help train the workforce, they will eventually bear the impact of training costs at a later stage or spend on poaching resources. This drives the cycle of the absorbing apprentices into their systems, so as to create a steady, yet highly qualified work force supply. 

In Germany, the apprenticeship in the dual system is the main pathway into employment for young people. Depending on the occupation it is also a widely accepted option for young people with a post-graduation qualification. The relatively smooth transition into employment and the resulting low youth unemployment are seen as important strengths of the system. [This system is extremely beneficial in a country where the youth population is high, like India] 

In 2019, the Chinese State Council published its “Implementation plan on National Vocational Education Reform”, signalling a significantly strengthened focus on vocational education. The Government has invested vast sums of money into vocational training, supporting up to 15 million people to upgrade their skills, across various industries. 

The apprenticeship system in India is subject to very rigid regulation and is small for the country’s population, even taking into account the high proportion of jobs that are in the informal economy,. Although the apprenticeship route has existed for over 40 years, the government has recently breathed new life into the apprenticeship mode by making it easier for businesses to assimilate it into their environment. 

Absorbing this system into a brownfield institution holds a variety of prospects for existing players. These companies can enjoy a steady supply of resources. Not only do they create a training ground equipped with aspirants focussed on eventual employment with a particular brand, but the overall industry benefits with a larger canvas of skilled labour, allowing it to consistently create quality bench marks. The average customer experience is enhanced across the industry, which would eventually benefit sentiment ratios. 

Rotational manpower ensures stabilization of human resources, relaxing rosters across hotels and enabling them to up-the-ante of their services without spreading their people too thinly. This positively impacts costs and leads to increased productivity, higher levels of employee satisfaction. Once the supply lines of good quality resources are clearly established, this can eventually lead to naturalization of attrition, allowing the hospitality HR’s heads to accurately forecast their churn out and plan their budgets more effectively. 

On a country wide scale, the successful embedding of the apprenticeship system can affect the Gross Employment Ratio (GER) positively. Larger projects can be invited as the talent pools swell, boosting investor confidence. 

Student 

Offering aspirants the opportunity to gain knowledge and experience, and earn at the same time are the most attractive features of this system. Allowing apprentices access to trending knowledge keeps them relevant and updated. 

The apprentices are enabled with a clear path for their growth. Consistent experience is also achieved as the defined pathway ensures a very well rounded and holistic experience of the operation. It becomes easier for the student to understand where their prowess lies in the system, and can create opportunities for them to earn experience in those areas where they lack it.

Hence, the apprentice has the option to learn while they work and achieve credentials within the industry, bolstering up their employability. By earning money during their tenure they are able to cushion their costs until they are on boarded as regular employees. This promise of a lowered economic impact on their academic fees ensures a relatively comfortable cycle for the student transitioning into an industry specialist. 

Apprenticeship programs offering international qualifications is a value addition for aspirants, who become significantly more employable in countries with very high domestic work force costs, but seek higher quality staff to compete with the market. 

Plug and Play: Monetize Your Existing Hotel/Restaurant Asset 

Institutions require only the minimum infrastructural configuration for the system. Most already have a training space which is where the theoretical aspects are delivered. The majority of the programme is focussed on shop floor operations, where certain proctors are established in the form of a ‘Mentee-Mentor’ system, where people in supervisory positions serve as ‘Mentors’ and become guides for the apprentices during their stint with them. Metrics defined by the industry partner and academic partner control quality, while aligning their interests in favour of the apprentice’s development and the businesses targets. This adds rich working experience to the apprentice by assuring ‘on-the-job’ training in an environment of the candidate’s interest, coupled with increased probability in getting that specific job on successful completion. 

The training partner can belong to any segment of market, be it a standalone restaurant or a large hotel, using highly flexible courses. This allows academic partners to design bespoke journeys for apprentices—who will experience the working environment of their choosing and their business partners will benefit from focussed hiring. 

The incidence of the course fees can be either borne completely or partially by the business partner, or even by the aspirant themselves with the incentive of earning back their investment through the mandatory stipend paid to them (over and above the legal minimum sum that must be paid to the apprentice during the engagement, of course). The industry can use various operational spaces in the form of training grounds as well as forge partnerships to create avenues for commercialization. 

Vocational Education & Training (VET) in Hospitality 

In Europe, Canada, The Americas and Australia - VET Hospitality programs are drawn from the countries national training framework. They offer portable qualifications which are recognised by many institutions. These qualifications provide students with a broad range of skills and knowledge to pursue a career or further training in hospitality. A diverse range of occupational training in the hospitality industry such as commercial cookery, catering and food and beverage service is provided.

These institutions conduct the delivery of training and assessment in real-time, operational environments using current industry tools, equipment, documents and other resources that play an essential role in skills development. This kind of an approach produces graduates that should be immediately useful and competent in an industry environment.

The VET by EHL program, is a system that is modelled on the Swiss competency framework, offers the opportunity to students to enrol with VET by EHL centers that deliver a hybrid format of learning. The program is divided into a three-month theoretical leg and is followed by a three-month internship. This comprises of the use of up-to-date industry relevant course material, and then the application of that knowledge in a live working environment. The highly adaptable nature coupled with the global industries requirement for quality professionals positions it perfectly for being the front runner in offering internationally recognized certificates via the apprenticeship route. 

VET by EHL is successful in having trained hospitality resources in east and west using content that is globally recognized whilst also imparting geo-specific adaptability of content. More importantly, the prospect of earning a Swiss Diploma after the successful completion of all three levels within a pathway (Culinary, Rooms, Hotel Administration and Food & Beverage Service) is a strong selling point for upcoming and existing hospitality brands. 

Conclusion 

As an example, let’s embed the apprenticeship system into an existing hotel. Let’s assume this hotel’s F&B outlets are staffed with a total 90 associates or permanent employees. If we were to reconfigure the staff mix and allow 30 percent of the team to be converted into apprentices, the benefits affect cost greatly as the stipend that is paid to them is considerable lesser. This would reduce the attrition in the department as they would be engaged in a fixed period of commitment (usually 18 months). 

Similarly for the rooms division, which already has 54 room associates can benefit by converting let’s say 30 percent of the work force into apprentices. The hotel would end up paying considerably lower salaries and yet would enjoy a highly attrition resistant work force, allowing them to stabilize costs and increase guest satisfaction. 

When the market finally picks up, a lot of assets will be under tremendous stress and will need innovative ideas to remain relevant over a period of time. Hospitality Businesses’ must ask themselves, can using your asset partially for training of students enable HR departments to earn revenue through student-paid programs? The fees may not be very high but definitely will cover training expenses and on top of it make a sizeable revenue for the hotel, which means hotels can more effectively sweat their assets and at the same time the replacement costs of employees by the apprentices can result in cost saving as high as 15 to 20 percent. 

In today’s competitive scenario, the opportunity to work, learn and earn is a golden ticket for the passionate and hardworking kind, who can carve a path for themselves as specialists, something that the industry is always in need of. The apprenticeship system, although old, is still a resilient path and must be nurtured, marketed for by private and governmental institutions. 

One must think of the Post-pandemic scenario, where it is probable that businesses with lean yet skilled work forces can emerge as winners if they keep an eye on their attrition levels. The adoption of this tried and tested system seems extremely beneficial to the stressed business, and of course to the passionate aspirant.