Skills for Life project – You’re Training. We’re Paying.

Q. How do you encourage business owners to get their staff signed up for free workforce development training?

A. Our brief was in three parts: to recruit 200 employees from small-to-medium sized businesses (SMEs) across London to obtain NVQs; to help employees from 400 SMEs gain the National Qualification in Literacy and Numeracy; and to get a further 200 SMEs to carry out a Skills for Life Training Needs Analysis for their staff.

With our partners Cambridge Training and the Get On workforce development team, we forged strategic relationships with colleges, sector skills councils, Business Link and the LSC.

We then contacted target communities throughout 11 sectors with a series of hard-hitting marketing campaigns, directing people to an 0800 freephone line and a specially designed website.

Our aim was to make it as easy as is humanly possible for hard-pressed business owners to take action.

Result?

It worked. We received an overwhelming response from London’s business community. The campaign is ongoing and is scheduled to complete on target.