Info for employers - Resources to help employers
Application Form
Make use of an Application Form on all occasions of recruitment. This will allow you to create and standardise important records for your business. Application Forms provide a useful source of information that will help with your selection process.Further information and specimen application forms may be obtained by following this link: http://www.lra.org.uk/index/advisory-services/sample_letters_and_forms.htm
Equality of Opportunity
Equality of Opportunity is a legal requirement and you must give consideration to this when recruiting. Further information and advice may be obtained by following this link: www.equalityni.org
National Record of Achievement (NRA)
This is a portfolio that is issued to all young people by the school that they have attended. It is used to compile a range of material that relates to areas of ability and achievement. You should consider asking the young person to bring this along to the interview as it may help your understanding of their capabilities and suitability for the Electrical Apprenticeship.
Insurance
You are required by law to maintain Employer's Liability Insurance when you employ anyone including an apprentice. It may be necessary to speak with your Insurance Company or an Insurance Broker about the extent of the policy cover that you require.
For the purposes of employing an Apprentice, Employer's Liability Insurance must be for a minimum of £2 million.
Advertise Free
You may advertise free on our website for any vacancy requirement that you might have for an apprentice. Just send the details to info@ett-ni.org or contact us at 028 2565 0750 and ask for help.
Induction
Every employer, large or small, should have a well-considered induction programme. A clear and thorough induction period is essential for all employees to help ensure they settle into their job. For most new employees, induction is concerned with getting accustomed to a new job. For young people, however, it is about adjusting to a whole new way of life - the world of work.
This may be a worrying and stressful time for young people. It is particularly important to encourage a positive attitude to work and to allay any fears that the young person may have. Health & Safety is a particularly important area to stress in the induction. Young people often have no feel for workplace hazards, and may be vulnerable to accidents.
The following elements should be covered when delivering a good induction programme:
- Details of the organisations history, background etc
- Organisational structure - showing how the young person fits into the team
- Health & Safety information (this is a legal requirement)
- Explanation of terms and conditions e.g. pay, hours of work, holidays
- Explanation of policies and procedures
- A clear outline of the job/role requirements
A good induction programme should:-
- Enable new employees to settle in quickly and become productive and efficient members of staff within a short period of time.
- Ensure that the employees are highly motivated and that this motivation is reinforced.
- Assist in reducing staff turnover, lateness, absenteeism and general poor performance.
- Ensure that employees operate in a safe working environment.
- Reduce costs associated with repeated recruitment, training and lost production.
Induction need not be an elaborate exercise, but it must be thought out in advance, carried out in a timely and careful manner and evaluated to ensure that it meets the needs of the young person.
For further information and guidance on Induction visit www.acas.org.uk
Contract of Employment
Employers are required to have a written Contract of Employment in place containing Terms and Conditions of Employment. These are to be considered separately from the written Training Agreement arrangements that ETT will provide you with.
A Contract of Employment is important and we would advise you to ensure that you put one in place within four weeks of the date on which employment commences.
Information, guidance and advice on the "Contract of Employment" may be obtained from the Labour Relations Agency or your legal advisor.
Young People and Health & Safety
You must, by law, provide a copy of your Health & Safety policy to all employees including young people who have just joined your organisation. Health & Safety law defines people by age; a young person is anyone under eighteen years of age.
Before employing a young person, your health & safety risk assessment must take these specific factors into account:
- The fitting-out and layout of the workplace and the particular site where they will work;
- The nature of any physical, biological and chemical agents they will be exposed to, for how long and to what extent;
- what types of work equipment will be used and how this will be handled;
- the need to assess and provide health and safety training; and
- risks from the particular agents, processes and work.
For further information, advice and guidance please consider looking at the HSE website http://hse.gov.uk/young people/index.htm.
Young people, especially those new to the workplace, will encounter unfamiliar risks from the jobs they will be doing and from the working environment.
- All people are at particular risk of injury in the first six months of a job as they may be unaware of existing or potential risks. Young people will frequently be in this category.
- Young people may lack experience or maturity or may be unaware of how to raise concerns.
- They may not have reached physical maturity and therefore lack the strength demanded.
- They may be eager to impress or please people with whom they work.
Monitoring
We are obliged to monitor your Apprentice both in the workplace and in the directed learning (college) environment. The purpose of monitoring is as follows:
- To measure and report the progress of the Apprentice against the Personal Training Plan.
- To provide information, advice and guidance to the Apprentice that may help him/her achieve success.
Monitoring will be carried out on no less than four occasions during the first year of training followed by further similar scheduled visits in the second year. These will be twice in the workplace and twice in the College. Employers will be provided with written reports on each occasion following Monitoring visits.
We shall notify you in advance when monitoring events are scheduled to take place in the workplace. These events will not normally take any more than thirty minutes of the Apprentice's/employers time.
Assessment
Assessment is a formal requirement under the NVQ Level 3 programme. This will usually take place in the third and fourth year of the Apprenticeship. The NVQ assessment visits are specifically designed to assess the Apprentice in the workplace for competency in knowledge and skills against the National Occupational Standards (NOS) in the context of the NVQ Level 3.
Written Reports
During the training period we shall send you a number of written reports on your Apprentice covering progress, achievement and timekeeping in the light of how we see it. We do appreciate that in most cases you will know your Apprentice better than we do and we advise that our reports should be considered as an independent third party and supplementary aids to your own appraisal system.
We would advise employers to take some time to consider these reports on a one to one basis with their Apprentice. A regular formal review of the progress of your Apprentice should be established. This would provide for an occasion when important things can be written down and recorded concerning areas of achievement or weakness.
Useful Resources
ETT Industry Training Officers are available to provide information, advice, guidance and support to your business in relation to apprenticeship training. Contact details are available
You may also wish to consider the following websites:
ETT is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.