< Previous East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk TRAINING AND APPRENTICESHIPS receive their £1,000 additional support payment if they take on an eligible young apprentice. The changes follow the introduction of new flexible apprenticeships, to create opportunities for more people in industries that boost the economy. The Government’s new flexi-job apprenticeship scheme will allow people to complete short placements across sectors such as construction and creative during their apprenticeship, opening up a new paid training route to a career in these industries, to address that some sectors with flexible employment patterns and short-term roles have previously found it harder to take on an apprentice. Apprenticeships are at least 12 months long, and apprentices need guaranteed employment and pay for that whole period. The new scheme will put an end to this by using agencies that can act as employers and place apprentices on projects in different companies. An apprentice working in construction for example could fulfil several contracts. There are myriad reasons why a business should consider utilising apprenticeships, which help bring valuable skills into your business, even ahead of new changes. Often overlooked is that apprentices can be employed at different levels, from school leavers to university graduates, to the less thought of people who want to further their careers or change career direction; you can hire someone new or upskill an existing employee. As we tackle recruitment and skills crises, apprenticeships may well become an important tool to fill key gaps in an organisation and improve retention. Designed by employers to reflect the relevant knowledge, skills, and behaviours that businesses need, there are apprenticeships from level 2 to level 7 (equivalent to a degree) which allow firms to find apprenticeships that suit their learning and development requirements. Research from Grant Thornton indicates that businesses are recognising this and strategically making use of apprenticeships as a means of upskilling their people at all levels, achieving sustainable recruitment, gaining more desirable qualifications within a business, and advancing social mobility. Moreover, the usefulness of the ability to tailor apprenticeships to specific development requirements is being understood, with many firms utilising courses to gain © stock.adobe.com/goodluz 42 Á 38-42.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2022 14:40 Page 3www.oms.uk.com 01530 833 533 info@oms.uk.com Helping you to perform at the highest level OMS have delivered consultancy and training services throughout the Midlands and UK for over 22 years. We are a leading authority in health and safety, employment, quality, environmental and business continuity management systems and training. Our tailored solutions support organisations throughout the UK. Could we help you too? Some of the benefits of using OMS 3 5 star Trustpilot rating. 3 Trusted by many major and local organisations to deliver consultancy and training. 3 Certified to ISO 9001, ISO 14001 & ISO 45001 for “The provision of Consultancy and Training Services” giving you the assurance that we have management controls in place to provide a quality offering safely, with minimal impact on the environment. 3 Easy access to our training centre, with free car parking, centrally located just a few minutes from Junction 22 of the M1. 3 Approved CITB touch screen (ITC) test centre, which allows you to attend a Site Safety Plus Health & Safety Awareness course and your touch screen test on the same day. 3 Wide range of health and safety e-learning courses. 3 Accredited to run a wide variety of courses at our training centre at Bardon Hill. 3 NEBOSH Gold training provider. Visit www.oms.uk.com , call us on 01530 833 533 or email info@oms.uk.com to learn more about us and how we can enhance your organisation. Our customers say Excellent 4.8 our of 5 based on 336 reviews 38-42.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2022 14:40 Page 4 East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk TRAINING AND APPRENTICESHIPS valuable new skills in the fields of digital and data analysis, for example, for their organisation, plugging skills gaps. Further reasons for embracing apprenticeships include the funding available. Indeed employers could be eligible for financial help and grants from the Government to fund apprentices, such as the £1,000 incentive for hiring an apprentice 16-18 years old or 19-24 years old with an education, health and care plan, or who has been in the care of their local authority. Whether new members of staff, or existing employees being upskilled, an apprenticeship can be a cost-effective option to develop the skills you need in your firm and train your workforce to be fit for the future. One’s apprenticeship levy pot holds the funds to cover training costs while there are also routes for non-levy paying businesses, who can for instance share the cost of apprenticeship training with Government. Meanwhile apprenticeships offer a way of increasing the diversity of your teams, which is central to forming a well-rounded, innovative workforce with fresh perspectives. Though apprenticeships are certainly valuable for creating and developing your workforce, in-house training is another route increasingly being sought to adapt to the skills shortage and lack of qualified candidates, particularly where only a short duration of training is required - perhaps to respond to changes to legislation or as part of professional practice - or group training is to be undertaken. The flexibility of in- house training formats is a key reason for the popularity, with the skills development courses offered by in-house training providers customisable for employees. It means that staff can develop in the areas where they need it most, and by businesses themselves setting the objectives of the training with the expert provider, facilitates a higher return on investment. Bespoke in-house training can also be delivered at one’s convenience, with the business choosing the delivery mode, location, and time best for staff, reducing potential disruption. Some businesses however are working with training providers to integrate content delivered in in-house training within an apprenticeship, seeking a longer period of support for employees to enhance their knowledge and skills while gaining qualifications. © stock.adobe.com/pressmaster 38-42.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2022 14:40 Page 5www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk East Midlands Business Link AUTOLINK Rolls-Royce Dawn Black Badge If the standard Rolls-Royce Dawn is the pinnacle of luxury, then the 155mph Black Badge Convertible is the identical but slightly evil twin. A bit like a gravelly-voiced baddie in a Bond movie, there’s an aura of well-roundedness and sophistication, but you know you’re playing with fire if you get too close. As the name suggests, Black Badge replaces much of the chrome with black. It is still the same 6.6-litre V12 engine below the bonnet, but there’s now 600PS instead of 570. The Black Badge will do 0-62mph in 4.9-seconds – and you’ll know about it. The engine noise is delightful as you put your foot down, and it accelerates very quickly, but not in a boisterous or ungainly way. In the front, there’s a lot of space, and, being a Convertible, you’d imagine that it’s a requirement to have tiny legs to get into the back. But you’d be wrong. Thanks to the car being almost 5.3-metres long, you could be nearly as comfortable in the rear seats as a four-door Phantom. There are also 295 litres of space in the boot, although this reduces with the roof down. It is rapid for such a hefty car and, for something not built for sporty handling, it’s not bad around the bends either. All you need to do is find the best part of £350,000. Convertibles for Summer Summer is here, so we’ve done our research on the coolest convertibles for this season. 44 Á Rolls-Royce Dawn Black Badge 43-45.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2022 14:41 Page 1 East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk AUTOLINK New Lexus LC Convertible The Lexus LC Coupe has always looked impressive and elegant. With fluid flanks, a low-slung roofline, and razor-sharp lights, it never fails to create a sense of theatre. But now, Lexus has stepped the pace up further by ushering in a soft-top version. The Convertible shares the LC Coupe’s gorgeous design and adrenaline-charged performance while adding the fun associated with wind-in-your-hair motoring. And, as with the hard-topped model, a non-turbocharged unit sits under the hood. This alone makes the LC different. Why? Well, there’s a glut of turbocharged cars out there, so a burbly, normally aspirated 5.0-litre V8 lump kind of forces you to take notice. Furthermore, the LC is armed with a ten-speed auto box. There are so many gears that you rarely need to ask for more engine power because you can compensate with the precisely assembled collection of ratios. The muscle and range of cogs help the near £100k convertible blast to 62mph in 5.0 seconds and on to 168mph. The timbre of the V8 pulling in air as the throttle input changes is as gratifying as it is galvanising. New Lexus LC Convertible 43-45.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2022 14:41 Page 2www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk East Midlands Business Link AUTOLINK Ford Mustang Convertible The Mustang wouldn’t be a Mustang without a thunderous V8, so you’ll be happy to hear Ford offers a huge 5.0-litre one. Together with its sports exhaust, there are few lovelier melodies in the automotive arena, and in Convertible 10- speed automatic guise, it’ll gallop from zero to 62mph in 4.8 seconds. The car’s maximum speed is 155mph. The Ford isn’t just quick in a straight line; the handling and ride are superb for such a muscley machine. A well- thought-out chassis and modern technology help optimise driving dynamics to deliver the kind of exciting event you’d expect to have sat behind the wheel of a Mustang. Furthermore, using different drive settings, you can play with the Convertible’s performance to suit your frame of mind. The spectacle you get over the lengthy bonnet is retro- Mustang through and through, and, from the spacious front seats, you get a good view of the road ahead. Regarding luggage carrying, the boot’s elevated lip makes loading tricky. However, the £51,685 Convertible has a 332-litre storage capacity, so you’ll get a couple of suitcases in there, plus other bits and pieces, no worries. Ford Mustang Convertible 43-45.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2022 14:41 Page 3 East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk CHRISTMAS IN JULY 46-49.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2022 14:42 Page 1www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk East Midlands Business Link CHRISTMAS IN JULY © stock.adobe.com/Stock_ko It may feel too soon to talk about Christmas parties but given two years in lockdown, failing to have one in 2022 might be a warning death knell to disillusioned and socially starved employees. T alking about Christmas in the middle of July might rightfully sound like a stupid idea, and yet it’s worth remembering that 2022 is the first full year out of lockdown, and that for many of us the Christmas party was either cancelled or scaled back drastically. Even those that hosted them would have done so with lockdown rules, social distancing and all the other necessities that would have taken away from the social aspect. We are right now in the middle of a time when businesses are struggling to keep hold of good staff and where hiring new ones is difficult, meaning that employee retention is more important now than ever. Can any business in the region, then, afford to not plan something big for the first end-of-year out of lockdown? We’ve all been told that life and business are returning to normal but if normal for 48 Á 46-49.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2022 14:42 Page 2 East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk CHRISTMAS IN JULY the past two years was a quiet party, and normal this year is another quiet party, then employees might begin to think that their business life might be more interesting elsewhere. Therefore, it might be time to start thinking about something big this Christmas. It might even be time to think of something sooner than Christmas. It’s no secret that many people look for new work over the holiday period, to start in the new year, and waiting all the way until December might only make employees feel that their workplace is a duller experience than working from home as they likely were during the lockdown. The goal should be to show that coming into the office comes with extra benefits, and not just pay – that comes as standard for any employment, so it’s not really a good weapon for employers to use. Planning something big this year can help bring people back to working life with a bang, remind them of what benefits await them and reinforce social bonds that may well have weakened over time. If your traditional Christmas do is a pub and a meal, however, this might be the year to think bigger. There’s no need to break the bank because there are plenty of venues that will offer a party atmosphere with meals, drinks, bands or comedians available. Some can be hired out solely for one company but many take on several SME’s and run the parties at the same time, with smaller companies having individual tables to themselves. A lot of these venues will already be taking bookings for their Christmas parties, and the best are likely to be well booked up before September, hence the purpose of talking about it in July. That’s not the only reason to discuss the Christmas party now, however. The other is that given half the year has passed by and staff are now reaching the halfway mark and might well be thinking about whether they want to keep working for you, it may well be time to talk to your employees about the Christmas party, get their thoughts and drum up some excitement. While everyone loves a good surprise, keeping quiet on this until the eleventh month might only reveal the unfortunate surprise that several members of staff have started looking for work elsewhere. The sooner it is brought up, even if only in concept, the sooner an employer can show to their employees that they are thinking about their happiness. Even lip service is better than no service. Given that this will be the first major work party in years for many of them, it’s worth investing a little more in making it stand out, and worth talking with teams in advance to get their opinion. This is never easy as there are always bound to be conflicting opinions with some people preferring small events or none at all, and some wanting large, flamboyant parties filled with alcohol. As ever, you can try to strike the right balance, or you can focus on providing the best experience for the majority and make it clear that attendance is by no means obligatory. Larger companies might want to delegate these talks to individual team managers who should have greater rapport with their teams, and who employees should hopefully feel more comfortable in confiding their thoughts with. As always, there are tax reliefs and benefits to holding work parties and financial advisors should be consulted to see what can and can’t be saved. Some of the details will be looked into in future issues of the Business Link Magazine, but the obvious advice is to keep all receipts in the interim and store them away safely. There’s no reason to break the bank this year, but there is good reason to go a little further than the company normally would. It’s been a strange and tenuous few years after all, and rather than welcoming employees back to more of the same, we need to give them reason to want to stay. 46-49.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2022 14:42 Page 3www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk East Midlands Business Link CHRISTMAS IN JULY © stock.adobe.com/santypan 46-49.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2022 14:42 Page 4Next >