Vocational qualifications

Vocational qualifications can help you develop the skills and knowledge your business needs.

Benefits of vocational qualifications

Vocational qualifications bring real advantages to employers including:

• Meet specific employer needs - vocational training is designed, often with employer input, to meet the specific needs of employers and specific job sectors.
• Better employee knowledge - practical learning gives employees better hands-on understanding of particular roles and tasks.
• More confident staff - employees are more confident in their job role.
• Flexibility - training is flexible to fit around the business needs.
• Competitive edge - having staff fully qualified for particular job roles may give your business a competitive advantage eg when tendering for contracts.
• Increased productivity - employees are likely to be happier in their job roles, more productive and motivated to reach their potential. This is turn can improve staff retention rates.
• Profitability - increased profitability with more competent and able staff.
• Skills matching - qualifications are easy to understand and employers can compare skills leading to career progression pathways.
• Staff development and progression - easier and more effective staff development and clearer career progression.
• Nationally recognised qualifications - many vocational qualifications have been designed in collaboration with industry so you can equip your employees with the specific skills and knowledge your business requires.

The qualifications that your employees gain can provide a helpful guide to their skill levels. All new vocational qualifications meet national standards, so they can also indicate how well-trained your staff are compared with other businesses in your sector or region.

Having a well-trained workforce can be of great value to your business. Vocational qualifications can help show you whether training targets are being met, and help you assess the skills development of individual workers. In turn, achieving vocational qualifications can offer a benchmark for setting reward levels - as a better-trained employee is likely to help improve the profitability of the business.

BTECs, OCR Nationals and other vocational qualifications.

It's important to bear in mind that while vocational qualifications are important this is only part of the staff development process. You should also be looking at staff training and managing the performance of your staff.