Setting your business up for future success means growing new strengths in your workforce. With Fees Free, Apprenticeship Boost and other funding available, there's never been a better time to address your skills shortages and prepare your business for a new era of work.
To make the most of new opportunities and growth potential, you need to align your workforce skills with your strategic direction. We can help you structure training solutions that help you upskill your people and stay on track for success.
Developing your workforce beyond onboarding and compliance training has many benefits:
- Skill gaps are filled fast because you have a pool of trained staff who are ready to step up
- Employees have the knowledge and confidence to improve their skills, processes and outputs
- Your teams’ familiarity with the latest technologies give you a competitive advantage
- Employee satisfaction can increase due to training and upskilling opportunities.
The first step in determining what sort of training programme you should run is a workforce competency assessment. Our simple skills assessment questionnaire can help get you started.
Depending on the number of staff you employ, you may need support from one of our industry training advisors to help develop your training solution.
All apprenticeships in our 37 sectors are fees-free. There are several funds that have been set up to help employers train apprentices and staff.
Fees Free is being re-instated from 1 January 2023. It is a Government initiative targeted at first-time learners as part of their commitment to make training affordable. If you currently have an eligible learner, their training and assessment will be covered by Fees Free for the first 24 months of their training. Learners can verify their eligibility using the NSN checker tool at www.feesfree.govt.nz.
Fees Free is administered by the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC). For full eligibility criteria, visit the TEC website.
Apprenticeship Boost is a wage subsidy of $500 per month paid to employers of new and currently enrolled first and second-year apprentices. This payment is made directly to employers to support the hiring and retention of apprentices. The government has announced as part of Budget 2023 that the Apprenticeship Boost initiative will be extended to 31 December 2024.
Apprenticeship Boost is administered by Work and Income and special conditions apply.
Mana in Mahi provices a wage subsidy and other pastoral care for employers of new and currently enrolled first and second-year apprentices through Work and Income’s Mana in Mahi scheme.
The New Zealand Government has announced more funding for additional Mana in Mahi places over the new two years as part of their Budget 2022 announcement.
Under the provincial growth fund, this is a wage subsidy and additional business support of up to $40,000 per apprentice. The scheme was previously administered by Work and Income and initially focused on displaced workers and Māori and Pasifika. The RAI is now closed to new applicants, but can still be accessed by small to medium enterprises looking for up to 10 apprentices in specific regions. The funds are now administered by third-party providers whose contact details can be found here.
An apprenticeship is an investment of time, money and effort into your business. That means it is worth doing right. Here’s some practical steps for bringing an apprentice onboard:
If you’re keen to hire a new apprentice, fill out the job profile and we'll advertise the role to our Jobseeker database.
If you want to train an existing staff member as an apprentice, fill out this form and one of our industry training advisors will help with learner contracts, learning programme enrolments, and funding arrangements.
Apprenticeships and traineeships deliver most of the training on-the-job. However some training in certain apprenticeships is provided off-site. Typically staff are away for 2-3 weeks and this is organised with significant advance notice.
Our training advisors have regular quarterly check-ins with apprentices. They also check in with the trainers and help assess an apprentice's training to ensure they are developing their skills at the right pace.
If you need more information from our expert team, visit our Frequently Asked Questions. This is updated frequently. If you can't find an answer, get in touch by clicking the chat bubble at the bottom right of the screen. We are currently experiencing high demand, so answers typically take two business days.
