Developing and implementing effective staff training can benefit your employees and your business. By investing in your staff, even on a small training budget, you can drive down costs to your business and help increase sales and profits.

What are the benefits of staff training?

Developing your workforce and improving their skills through training can:

• increase productivity
• enable skills development and spread the skills mix across your teams and organisation
• improve the quality of work
• establish a clear standard for trained members of staff
• give staff more responsibility and ownership of their job role
• reduce faults, waste, or customer complaints with streamlined processes and more competent staff
• positively affect staff morale and motivation - see lead and motivate your staff
• reduce staff turnover and absenteeism
• help your business adapt to change and prepare for growth - see change management and planning business growth
• give you a competitive advantage over your business rivals - see increase your market share
• offer development opportunities for your employees
• help you attract top talent if your business is seen as one that values and invests in their workers - see recruiting staff

Although staff training is often mandatory for new members of staff, it is just as important to offer ongoing training opportunities for long-term employees. This helps staff realise that there is an opportunity within your organisation to develop, grow, and progress. Staff training develops the skills and capabilities that individuals need for their job and improves the overall efficiency and performance of a business as a whole.

To identify training that matches the specific needs of your staff and business goals you can carry out a training needs analysis.

What is a training needs analysis?

Training needs analysis is a method used by businesses to identify training requirements in a cost-efficient way. This process involves evaluating training needs and weighing up training priority areas at all levels within a business. Training needs analysis forms the first step of the training development cycle.

Training development cycle

What are the stages of training needs analysis?

There are three key stages of training needs analysis. These steps involve identifying the direction of the organisation, understanding the skills and knowledge of staff through a task analysis, and analysing the individual needs of each employee. These three stages of training needs analysis are explained in more detail below:

Stage 1: Organisational needs

This step evaluates the overall training needs in the business. This is where you analyse future skills needs due to changes in products, equipment, technology, and teams, or in response to economic or political factors. Upcoming changes in law or industry standards may also influence the training needs of your business.

Practical ways of identifying organisational needs are by reviewing documents, and processes, setting up advisory teams, and carrying out a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and strengths) analysis - see a SWOT analysis example.

Stage 2: Task analysis

At this level, you compare the job requirements of your business with existing employee skills and knowledge. This will help you to identify the potential skills gaps. Here you establish how often specific tasks are performed, the level of skill and knowledge required to perform these tasks, and where and how these skills are best acquired.

Practical ways of carrying out this analysis are to create assessment centres, tests, or practical observations of employees carrying out key tasks.

Stage 3: Individual needs

At this stage, you examine the training needs of each employee. This information is most often gathered from performance reviews and appraisal systems. You may seek feedback from employees on their recommendations on how to solve problems that may be hampering their day-to-day job.

Other practical ways of identifying individual training requirements for your employees are through surveys, questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups. Download our SWOT analysis template with specific staff training questions (DOC, 17K)

Support to help your business with training needs analysis

Invest Northern Ireland offers help and advice to local businesses on upskilling their workforce. The training needs analysis workshops give you an insight into the tools and techniques used by learning and development professionals to analyse training needs.

Training needs analysis tutorial videos

The embedded video below is an introduction to a tutorial on training needs analysis. You can view the full Invest NI training needs analysis tutorial.

After you have identified the staff training required through training needs analysis, you will want to interpret the results and put your findings into practice.

Understanding the training needs analysis process

To effectively implement and deliver the benefits of your training needs analysis, you should consider the following steps:

1. Link skills requirements to your business goals and strategy

Embed the results of your training needs analysis within the direction of future training and skills development. This will ensure that you are applying your training budget effectively to the areas within your business that need it most.

2. Prioritise training needs

This is when you form the justification for your training budget by identifying how training will meet your business's key performance indicators (KPIs) - see use KPIs to assess business performance. Your initial analysis may have identified the need for staff training in multiple areas, so you will need to prioritise the parts that you will focus on first.

For example, you might consider if the training can help employees carry out existing tasks more efficiently or to a higher standard, or if it will train staff to take on a new role with increased responsibilities. In short, you need to identify what is most important to your business.

To help identify priority training courses, you can carry out a training course priority weighting exercise. This is where you weigh up the costs and benefits of a number of training courses to identify the most beneficial one for your business. Download our training course priority weighting template (DOC, 13K).

3. Find training solutions

Establish how you will deliver the training whether in-house or through external trainers. Some options include:

• conferences
• workshops/seminars
• e-learning/webinars
• books/journal
• coaching or mentoring
• job shadowing
• secondment

See a list of training methods to fit your business.

You can search our Events Finder for suitable training courses, workshops, webinars, and other business events.

4. Communicate

It is important to keep your employees informed of the reasons why they may have to complete certain training. Publish your training needs analysis findings and any associated training plans. Invite feedback from your employees on how they found the training they undertook.

5. Evaluate

You should evaluate the training outcomes by demonstrating how the training delivers value for money. Consider naming someone who is responsible for evaluating training (eg a dedicated staff or line manager). Analyse the impact of all training on your employees, business, and productivity.

You can use a range of tools to give you qualitative and quantitative evaluation feedback. You should attempt to assess the impact of the training on employees by comparing their skills and abilities before and after training completion. The evidence you gather at this stage should be fed back to management as a demonstration of how the training provides a return on investment for the business.

Most training providers use evaluation methods that fit into the Kirkpatrick Model of Evaluation for Training (PDF, 302K), where example methods are matched to each level of evaluation.

Support to help your business with training needs analysis

Invest Northern Ireland offers help and advice to local businesses on upskilling their workforce. The training needs analysis workshops give you an insight into the tools and techniques used by learning and development professionals to analyse training needs.

An outline of some methods your business could use to help train your staff, including their advantages and disadvantages.

There are many organisations offering training courses throughout Northern Ireland. There are also free online training resources to help you and your staff develop their skills and make your business more competitive.

Free short-term courses (Skill Up programme)

The Department for the Economy is supporting free places on a range of fully accredited courses, to help individuals retrain and improve their skills. The courses will be delivered by local universities and Further Education colleges through the Skill Up programme. See Skill Up programme: Retrain and upskill your staff.

Open University courses

The Open University has partnered with Invest Northern Ireland to provide local businesses with online training and learning resources to support upskilling in industry.

• Business learning hub – search for online training.

The Open University has also partnered with the Department for the Economy to offer a range of free training to help you improve your skills and wellbeing.

The Open University offers a wide range of online courses.

• View The Open University full catalogue.

Other online courses

AbilityNet helps people of any age and with any disability to use technology to achieve their goals at home, at work, and in education.

Alison is a free learning platform for education and skills training. It is a not-for-profit social enterprise dedicated to making it possible for anyone, to study anything, anywhere, at any time, for free online, at any subject level.

AWS Training & Certification is free to register and offers over 500 free courses to build AWS Cloud Skills.

BBC Skillswise offers a collection of free videos and downloadable worksheets to help adult learners improve their reading, writing and numeracy skills.

BT Skills for Tomorrow offers a range of free resources anyone can use to help them stay safe, connected and informed online.

Carnegie Trust in partnership with CILIP Library Association offers online development materials on leadership and innovation, including transformation, creativity, and innovation, influencing skills and power.

Class Central offers several thousand free online courses that have been developed by a number of top universities from across the globe, including in ICT and business.

Class of 2020 offers learning and development materials on upskilling programmes for graduates, including short courses, live webinars, business challenges, and questions and answers.

Coursera brings together courses and certificates provided online for free by a variety of universities and companies. The main focus is on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, with additional material in other areas also available.

CoursesOnline provides a huge range of training courses from the UK's leading educational providers. There are many courses to choose from, including business, IT, accountancy, human resources, marketing and many more.

Google Digital Garage offers over 40 hours worth of training to get the digital skills you need to start your career or grow your business.

Invest NI offers a wide range of tools and business tutorials to support improvements in business processes and growth. The training needs analysis workshops also give you an insight into the tools and techniques used by learning and development professionals to analyse training needs.

Khan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that let learners study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom, offering mathematics, science, computer programming, history, art history, economics, and more.

Learn My Way is a website of free online courses, built by Good Things Foundation to help people develop their digital skills.

Oxford Home Study College offers a range of fully certified provision including cybersecurity, digital marketing, life coaching, and planning.

Training Matchmaker offers a range of free short courses, based online or across Northern Ireland, in a wide range of technical and vocational areas.

Business Events Finder

You can also search our Events Finder for business-related training, workshops, conferences and webinars from a variety of organisations.

Choosing a training provider: what to consider

When deciding who to select for your training provider, you should consider:

• Does the trainer understand your business? Is their experience relevant to your sector?
• Is the training at the right level, is it tailored to your business, as opposed to being a generic course?
• Do the logistics of the training satisfy you? Is it hosted online or held at an appropriate venue, at the right times and dates that suit your schedule?
• Is the trainer or training business linked to any associations that can recommend them?
• Could you speak to other clients who have undergone the training?

It is likely that there will be a number of suppliers offering possible courses. You should investigate each one thoroughly to ensure they meet your requirements before going ahead.

Skill Up offers opportunities for businesses to retrain and upskill their staff by taking advantage of a range of free accredited courses. The training will be delivered by the local further and higher education providers in Northern Ireland.

Opportunities are available from entry to postgraduate levels, focusing on skills identified by industry, linked to priority economic areas, including:

• green skills
• software
• advanced manufacturing
• childcare
• health and social care
• hospitality
• transversal skills

Training courses available for 2024-25

If you are interested in the training courses available from local colleges and universities for the 2024-25 academic year, visit the provider’s website.

Queen’s University Belfast

Further information and details on how to apply for Queen's University Skill Up courses.

Ulster University

Further information and details on how to apply to the Ulster University Skill Up courses.

St Mary's University College

Further information and details on how to apply to the St Mary's University College course.

Stranmillis University College

Further information and details on how to apply to the Stranmillis University College courses.

North West Regional College

Further information and details on how to apply to the North West Regional College's Skill Up courses.

Belfast Metropolitan College

Further information and details on how to apply to the Belfast Met Skill Up courses.

Northern Regional College

Further information and details on how to apply to the Northern Regional College's Skill Up courses.

Southern Regional College

Further information and details on how to apply to the Southern Regional College's Skill Up courses.

South Eastern Regional College

Further information and details on how to apply to the South Eastern Regional College's Skill Up courses.

South West College

Further information and details on how to apply to the South West College's Skill Up courses.

The Open University

Applications for Open University Skill Up courses closed at midday on Thursday 12 September 2024.

Find further information on the Open University Skill Up courses.

Full list of Skill Up courses

For a breakdown of Skill Up courses available across the organisations, see Skill Up.

Being recognised as an organisation that invests in its people through training and development can impress prospective customers, suppliers, and new recruits.

Investors in People

If you are seeking recognition for your training efforts and effective engagement with staff, you should consider applying for the Investors in People Awards. Investors in People is a management standard for high performance through people. The prestigious accreditation is recognised across the world as a mark of excellence.

Read more on Investors in People: the Standard for people management.

Recognition through business awards

Business awards run by various organisations and local councils usually have award categories that recognise the efforts of employers to train, develop and look after their staff. You may find it beneficial to apply for business awards in order to have your training efforts recognised and rewarded.

Find business awards

You can find business awards by checking our business news section or business support finder.

There are several sources of sector-specific advice on skills development for employees working in a particular industry. Employers can also get involved in helping to influence how training is adapted to match the needs of their industries.

Sectoral partnerships

The purpose of sectoral partnerships is to review and develop the content of all youth traineeship and apprenticeship frameworks from level 2 to level 8 to ensure that all those involved in training are industry-ready.

There are 15 sectoral partnerships that have been established so far, including:

• Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering
• Agri-Food Manufacturing
• Built Environment
• Finance and Accounting
• Hair and Beauty
• Health and Social Care
• Hospitality and Tourism
• ICT
• Life and Health Services
• Sales and Marketing
• Business and Administration
• Childcare and Youth Work
• Civil Engineering
• Creative and Cultural
• Motor Vehicle

Employers are encouraged to become involved in sectoral partnerships to ensure apprentices and trainees are getting high-quality training that provides them with the right skills for a career in their chosen industry.

Read more on sectoral partnerships.

Sector Training Councils (STCs)

Sector Training Councils are independent employer representative bodies in Northern Ireland. Their role is to:

• articulate the skills, education, and training needs of their sectors in the short and long term
• advise on training standards required for their sectors
• work with the Department for the Economy (DfE), employers, and industry trade bodies to ensure that training needs and standards are met

You can find out more about individual Sector Training Councils at the links below:

• Construction Industry Training Board Northern Ireland (CITB NI)
• Electrical Training Trust (ETT)
• Northern Ireland Screen (NIS)
• NI Polymers Association (NIPA)
• Transport Training Services (TTS)

Developing and implementing effective staff training can benefit your employees and your business. By investing in your staff, even on a small training budget, you can drive down costs to your business and help increase sales and profits.

What are the benefits of staff training?

Developing your workforce and improving their skills through training can:

• increase productivity
• enable skills development and spread the skills mix across your teams and organisation
• improve the quality of work
• establish a clear standard for trained members of staff
• give staff more responsibility and ownership of their job role
• reduce faults, waste, or customer complaints with streamlined processes and more competent staff
• positively affect staff morale and motivation - see lead and motivate your staff
• reduce staff turnover and absenteeism
• help your business adapt to change and prepare for growth - see change management and planning business growth
• give you a competitive advantage over your business rivals - see increase your market share
• offer development opportunities for your employees
• help you attract top talent if your business is seen as one that values and invests in their workers - see recruiting staff

Although staff training is often mandatory for new members of staff, it is just as important to offer ongoing training opportunities for long-term employees. This helps staff realise that there is an opportunity within your organisation to develop, grow, and progress. Staff training develops the skills and capabilities that individuals need for their job and improves the overall efficiency and performance of a business as a whole.

To identify training that matches the specific needs of your staff and business goals you can carry out a training needs analysis.

What is a training needs analysis?

Training needs analysis is a method used by businesses to identify training requirements in a cost-efficient way. This process involves evaluating training needs and weighing up training priority areas at all levels within a business. Training needs analysis forms the first step of the training development cycle.

Training development cycle

What are the stages of training needs analysis?

There are three key stages of training needs analysis. These steps involve identifying the direction of the organisation, understanding the skills and knowledge of staff through a task analysis, and analysing the individual needs of each employee. These three stages of training needs analysis are explained in more detail below:

Stage 1: Organisational needs

This step evaluates the overall training needs in the business. This is where you analyse future skills needs due to changes in products, equipment, technology, and teams, or in response to economic or political factors. Upcoming changes in law or industry standards may also influence the training needs of your business.

Practical ways of identifying organisational needs are by reviewing documents, and processes, setting up advisory teams, and carrying out a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and strengths) analysis - see a SWOT analysis example.

Stage 2: Task analysis

At this level, you compare the job requirements of your business with existing employee skills and knowledge. This will help you to identify the potential skills gaps. Here you establish how often specific tasks are performed, the level of skill and knowledge required to perform these tasks, and where and how these skills are best acquired.

Practical ways of carrying out this analysis are to create assessment centres, tests, or practical observations of employees carrying out key tasks.

Stage 3: Individual needs

At this stage, you examine the training needs of each employee. This information is most often gathered from performance reviews and appraisal systems. You may seek feedback from employees on their recommendations on how to solve problems that may be hampering their day-to-day job.

Other practical ways of identifying individual training requirements for your employees are through surveys, questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups. Download our SWOT analysis template with specific staff training questions (DOC, 17K)

Support to help your business with training needs analysis

Invest Northern Ireland offers help and advice to local businesses on upskilling their workforce. The training needs analysis workshops give you an insight into the tools and techniques used by learning and development professionals to analyse training needs.

Training needs analysis tutorial videos

The embedded video below is an introduction to a tutorial on training needs analysis. You can view the full Invest NI training needs analysis tutorial.

After you have identified the staff training required through training needs analysis, you will want to interpret the results and put your findings into practice.

Understanding the training needs analysis process

To effectively implement and deliver the benefits of your training needs analysis, you should consider the following steps:

1. Link skills requirements to your business goals and strategy

Embed the results of your training needs analysis within the direction of future training and skills development. This will ensure that you are applying your training budget effectively to the areas within your business that need it most.

2. Prioritise training needs

This is when you form the justification for your training budget by identifying how training will meet your business's key performance indicators (KPIs) - see use KPIs to assess business performance. Your initial analysis may have identified the need for staff training in multiple areas, so you will need to prioritise the parts that you will focus on first.

For example, you might consider if the training can help employees carry out existing tasks more efficiently or to a higher standard, or if it will train staff to take on a new role with increased responsibilities. In short, you need to identify what is most important to your business.

To help identify priority training courses, you can carry out a training course priority weighting exercise. This is where you weigh up the costs and benefits of a number of training courses to identify the most beneficial one for your business. Download our training course priority weighting template (DOC, 13K).

3. Find training solutions

Establish how you will deliver the training whether in-house or through external trainers. Some options include:

• conferences
• workshops/seminars
• e-learning/webinars
• books/journal
• coaching or mentoring
• job shadowing
• secondment

See a list of training methods to fit your business.

You can search our Events Finder for suitable training courses, workshops, webinars, and other business events.

4. Communicate

It is important to keep your employees informed of the reasons why they may have to complete certain training. Publish your training needs analysis findings and any associated training plans. Invite feedback from your employees on how they found the training they undertook.

5. Evaluate

You should evaluate the training outcomes by demonstrating how the training delivers value for money. Consider naming someone who is responsible for evaluating training (eg a dedicated staff or line manager). Analyse the impact of all training on your employees, business, and productivity.

You can use a range of tools to give you qualitative and quantitative evaluation feedback. You should attempt to assess the impact of the training on employees by comparing their skills and abilities before and after training completion. The evidence you gather at this stage should be fed back to management as a demonstration of how the training provides a return on investment for the business.

Most training providers use evaluation methods that fit into the Kirkpatrick Model of Evaluation for Training (PDF, 302K), where example methods are matched to each level of evaluation.

Support to help your business with training needs analysis

Invest Northern Ireland offers help and advice to local businesses on upskilling their workforce. The training needs analysis workshops give you an insight into the tools and techniques used by learning and development professionals to analyse training needs.

An outline of some methods your business could use to help train your staff, including their advantages and disadvantages.

There are many organisations offering training courses throughout Northern Ireland. There are also free online training resources to help you and your staff develop their skills and make your business more competitive.

Free short-term courses (Skill Up programme)

The Department for the Economy is supporting free places on a range of fully accredited courses, to help individuals retrain and improve their skills. The courses will be delivered by local universities and Further Education colleges through the Skill Up programme. See Skill Up programme: Retrain and upskill your staff.

Open University courses

The Open University has partnered with Invest Northern Ireland to provide local businesses with online training and learning resources to support upskilling in industry.

• Business learning hub – search for online training.

The Open University has also partnered with the Department for the Economy to offer a range of free training to help you improve your skills and wellbeing.

The Open University offers a wide range of online courses.

• View The Open University full catalogue.

Other online courses

AbilityNet helps people of any age and with any disability to use technology to achieve their goals at home, at work, and in education.

Alison is a free learning platform for education and skills training. It is a not-for-profit social enterprise dedicated to making it possible for anyone, to study anything, anywhere, at any time, for free online, at any subject level.

AWS Training & Certification is free to register and offers over 500 free courses to build AWS Cloud Skills.

BBC Skillswise offers a collection of free videos and downloadable worksheets to help adult learners improve their reading, writing and numeracy skills.

BT Skills for Tomorrow offers a range of free resources anyone can use to help them stay safe, connected and informed online.

Carnegie Trust in partnership with CILIP Library Association offers online development materials on leadership and innovation, including transformation, creativity, and innovation, influencing skills and power.

Class Central offers several thousand free online courses that have been developed by a number of top universities from across the globe, including in ICT and business.

Class of 2020 offers learning and development materials on upskilling programmes for graduates, including short courses, live webinars, business challenges, and questions and answers.

Coursera brings together courses and certificates provided online for free by a variety of universities and companies. The main focus is on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, with additional material in other areas also available.

CoursesOnline provides a huge range of training courses from the UK's leading educational providers. There are many courses to choose from, including business, IT, accountancy, human resources, marketing and many more.

Google Digital Garage offers over 40 hours worth of training to get the digital skills you need to start your career or grow your business.

Invest NI offers a wide range of tools and business tutorials to support improvements in business processes and growth. The training needs analysis workshops also give you an insight into the tools and techniques used by learning and development professionals to analyse training needs.

Khan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that let learners study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom, offering mathematics, science, computer programming, history, art history, economics, and more.

Learn My Way is a website of free online courses, built by Good Things Foundation to help people develop their digital skills.

Oxford Home Study College offers a range of fully certified provision including cybersecurity, digital marketing, life coaching, and planning.

Training Matchmaker offers a range of free short courses, based online or across Northern Ireland, in a wide range of technical and vocational areas.

Business Events Finder

You can also search our Events Finder for business-related training, workshops, conferences and webinars from a variety of organisations.

Choosing a training provider: what to consider

When deciding who to select for your training provider, you should consider:

• Does the trainer understand your business? Is their experience relevant to your sector?
• Is the training at the right level, is it tailored to your business, as opposed to being a generic course?
• Do the logistics of the training satisfy you? Is it hosted online or held at an appropriate venue, at the right times and dates that suit your schedule?
• Is the trainer or training business linked to any associations that can recommend them?
• Could you speak to other clients who have undergone the training?

It is likely that there will be a number of suppliers offering possible courses. You should investigate each one thoroughly to ensure they meet your requirements before going ahead.

Skill Up offers opportunities for businesses to retrain and upskill their staff by taking advantage of a range of free accredited courses. The training will be delivered by the local further and higher education providers in Northern Ireland.

Opportunities are available from entry to postgraduate levels, focusing on skills identified by industry, linked to priority economic areas, including:

• green skills
• software
• advanced manufacturing
• childcare
• health and social care
• hospitality
• transversal skills

Training courses available for 2024-25

If you are interested in the training courses available from local colleges and universities for the 2024-25 academic year, visit the provider’s website.

Queen’s University Belfast

Further information and details on how to apply for Queen's University Skill Up courses.

Ulster University

Further information and details on how to apply to the Ulster University Skill Up courses.

St Mary's University College

Further information and details on how to apply to the St Mary's University College course.

Stranmillis University College

Further information and details on how to apply to the Stranmillis University College courses.

North West Regional College

Further information and details on how to apply to the North West Regional College's Skill Up courses.

Belfast Metropolitan College

Further information and details on how to apply to the Belfast Met Skill Up courses.

Northern Regional College

Further information and details on how to apply to the Northern Regional College's Skill Up courses.

Southern Regional College

Further information and details on how to apply to the Southern Regional College's Skill Up courses.

South Eastern Regional College

Further information and details on how to apply to the South Eastern Regional College's Skill Up courses.

South West College

Further information and details on how to apply to the South West College's Skill Up courses.

The Open University

Applications for Open University Skill Up courses closed at midday on Thursday 12 September 2024.

Find further information on the Open University Skill Up courses.

Full list of Skill Up courses

For a breakdown of Skill Up courses available across the organisations, see Skill Up.

Being recognised as an organisation that invests in its people through training and development can impress prospective customers, suppliers, and new recruits.

Investors in People

If you are seeking recognition for your training efforts and effective engagement with staff, you should consider applying for the Investors in People Awards. Investors in People is a management standard for high performance through people. The prestigious accreditation is recognised across the world as a mark of excellence.

Read more on Investors in People: the Standard for people management.

Recognition through business awards

Business awards run by various organisations and local councils usually have award categories that recognise the efforts of employers to train, develop and look after their staff. You may find it beneficial to apply for business awards in order to have your training efforts recognised and rewarded.

Find business awards

You can find business awards by checking our business news section or business support finder.

There are several sources of sector-specific advice on skills development for employees working in a particular industry. Employers can also get involved in helping to influence how training is adapted to match the needs of their industries.

Sectoral partnerships

The purpose of sectoral partnerships is to review and develop the content of all youth traineeship and apprenticeship frameworks from level 2 to level 8 to ensure that all those involved in training are industry-ready.

There are 15 sectoral partnerships that have been established so far, including:

• Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering
• Agri-Food Manufacturing
• Built Environment
• Finance and Accounting
• Hair and Beauty
• Health and Social Care
• Hospitality and Tourism
• ICT
• Life and Health Services
• Sales and Marketing
• Business and Administration
• Childcare and Youth Work
• Civil Engineering
• Creative and Cultural
• Motor Vehicle

Employers are encouraged to become involved in sectoral partnerships to ensure apprentices and trainees are getting high-quality training that provides them with the right skills for a career in their chosen industry.

Read more on sectoral partnerships.

Sector Training Councils (STCs)

Sector Training Councils are independent employer representative bodies in Northern Ireland. Their role is to:

• articulate the skills, education, and training needs of their sectors in the short and long term
• advise on training standards required for their sectors
• work with the Department for the Economy (DfE), employers, and industry trade bodies to ensure that training needs and standards are met

You can find out more about individual Sector Training Councils at the links below:

• Construction Industry Training Board Northern Ireland (CITB NI)
• Electrical Training Trust (ETT)
• Northern Ireland Screen (NIS)
• NI Polymers Association (NIPA)
• Transport Training Services (TTS)

Developing and implementing effective staff training can benefit your employees and your business. By investing in your staff, even on a small training budget, you can drive down costs to your business and help increase sales and profits.

What are the benefits of staff training?

Developing your workforce and improving their skills through training can:

• increase productivity
• enable skills development and spread the skills mix across your teams and organisation
• improve the quality of work
• establish a clear standard for trained members of staff
• give staff more responsibility and ownership of their job role
• reduce faults, waste, or customer complaints with streamlined processes and more competent staff
• positively affect staff morale and motivation - see lead and motivate your staff
• reduce staff turnover and absenteeism
• help your business adapt to change and prepare for growth - see change management and planning business growth
• give you a competitive advantage over your business rivals - see increase your market share
• offer development opportunities for your employees
• help you attract top talent if your business is seen as one that values and invests in their workers - see recruiting staff

Although staff training is often mandatory for new members of staff, it is just as important to offer ongoing training opportunities for long-term employees. This helps staff realise that there is an opportunity within your organisation to develop, grow, and progress. Staff training develops the skills and capabilities that individuals need for their job and improves the overall efficiency and performance of a business as a whole.

To identify training that matches the specific needs of your staff and business goals you can carry out a training needs analysis.

What is a training needs analysis?

Training needs analysis is a method used by businesses to identify training requirements in a cost-efficient way. This process involves evaluating training needs and weighing up training priority areas at all levels within a business. Training needs analysis forms the first step of the training development cycle.

Training development cycle

What are the stages of training needs analysis?

There are three key stages of training needs analysis. These steps involve identifying the direction of the organisation, understanding the skills and knowledge of staff through a task analysis, and analysing the individual needs of each employee. These three stages of training needs analysis are explained in more detail below:

Stage 1: Organisational needs

This step evaluates the overall training needs in the business. This is where you analyse future skills needs due to changes in products, equipment, technology, and teams, or in response to economic or political factors. Upcoming changes in law or industry standards may also influence the training needs of your business.

Practical ways of identifying organisational needs are by reviewing documents, and processes, setting up advisory teams, and carrying out a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and strengths) analysis - see a SWOT analysis example.

Stage 2: Task analysis

At this level, you compare the job requirements of your business with existing employee skills and knowledge. This will help you to identify the potential skills gaps. Here you establish how often specific tasks are performed, the level of skill and knowledge required to perform these tasks, and where and how these skills are best acquired.

Practical ways of carrying out this analysis are to create assessment centres, tests, or practical observations of employees carrying out key tasks.

Stage 3: Individual needs

At this stage, you examine the training needs of each employee. This information is most often gathered from performance reviews and appraisal systems. You may seek feedback from employees on their recommendations on how to solve problems that may be hampering their day-to-day job.

Other practical ways of identifying individual training requirements for your employees are through surveys, questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups. Download our SWOT analysis template with specific staff training questions (DOC, 17K)

Support to help your business with training needs analysis

Invest Northern Ireland offers help and advice to local businesses on upskilling their workforce. The training needs analysis workshops give you an insight into the tools and techniques used by learning and development professionals to analyse training needs.

Training needs analysis tutorial videos

The embedded video below is an introduction to a tutorial on training needs analysis. You can view the full Invest NI training needs analysis tutorial.

After you have identified the staff training required through training needs analysis, you will want to interpret the results and put your findings into practice.

Understanding the training needs analysis process

To effectively implement and deliver the benefits of your training needs analysis, you should consider the following steps:

1. Link skills requirements to your business goals and strategy

Embed the results of your training needs analysis within the direction of future training and skills development. This will ensure that you are applying your training budget effectively to the areas within your business that need it most.

2. Prioritise training needs

This is when you form the justification for your training budget by identifying how training will meet your business's key performance indicators (KPIs) - see use KPIs to assess business performance. Your initial analysis may have identified the need for staff training in multiple areas, so you will need to prioritise the parts that you will focus on first.

For example, you might consider if the training can help employees carry out existing tasks more efficiently or to a higher standard, or if it will train staff to take on a new role with increased responsibilities. In short, you need to identify what is most important to your business.

To help identify priority training courses, you can carry out a training course priority weighting exercise. This is where you weigh up the costs and benefits of a number of training courses to identify the most beneficial one for your business. Download our training course priority weighting template (DOC, 13K).

3. Find training solutions

Establish how you will deliver the training whether in-house or through external trainers. Some options include:

• conferences
• workshops/seminars
• e-learning/webinars
• books/journal
• coaching or mentoring
• job shadowing
• secondment

See a list of training methods to fit your business.

You can search our Events Finder for suitable training courses, workshops, webinars, and other business events.

4. Communicate

It is important to keep your employees informed of the reasons why they may have to complete certain training. Publish your training needs analysis findings and any associated training plans. Invite feedback from your employees on how they found the training they undertook.

5. Evaluate

You should evaluate the training outcomes by demonstrating how the training delivers value for money. Consider naming someone who is responsible for evaluating training (eg a dedicated staff or line manager). Analyse the impact of all training on your employees, business, and productivity.

You can use a range of tools to give you qualitative and quantitative evaluation feedback. You should attempt to assess the impact of the training on employees by comparing their skills and abilities before and after training completion. The evidence you gather at this stage should be fed back to management as a demonstration of how the training provides a return on investment for the business.

Most training providers use evaluation methods that fit into the Kirkpatrick Model of Evaluation for Training (PDF, 302K), where example methods are matched to each level of evaluation.

Support to help your business with training needs analysis

Invest Northern Ireland offers help and advice to local businesses on upskilling their workforce. The training needs analysis workshops give you an insight into the tools and techniques used by learning and development professionals to analyse training needs.

An outline of some methods your business could use to help train your staff, including their advantages and disadvantages.

There are many organisations offering training courses throughout Northern Ireland. There are also free online training resources to help you and your staff develop their skills and make your business more competitive.

Free short-term courses (Skill Up programme)

The Department for the Economy is supporting free places on a range of fully accredited courses, to help individuals retrain and improve their skills. The courses will be delivered by local universities and Further Education colleges through the Skill Up programme. See Skill Up programme: Retrain and upskill your staff.

Open University courses

The Open University has partnered with Invest Northern Ireland to provide local businesses with online training and learning resources to support upskilling in industry.

• Business learning hub – search for online training.

The Open University has also partnered with the Department for the Economy to offer a range of free training to help you improve your skills and wellbeing.

The Open University offers a wide range of online courses.

• View The Open University full catalogue.

Other online courses

AbilityNet helps people of any age and with any disability to use technology to achieve their goals at home, at work, and in education.

Alison is a free learning platform for education and skills training. It is a not-for-profit social enterprise dedicated to making it possible for anyone, to study anything, anywhere, at any time, for free online, at any subject level.

AWS Training & Certification is free to register and offers over 500 free courses to build AWS Cloud Skills.

BBC Skillswise offers a collection of free videos and downloadable worksheets to help adult learners improve their reading, writing and numeracy skills.

BT Skills for Tomorrow offers a range of free resources anyone can use to help them stay safe, connected and informed online.

Carnegie Trust in partnership with CILIP Library Association offers online development materials on leadership and innovation, including transformation, creativity, and innovation, influencing skills and power.

Class Central offers several thousand free online courses that have been developed by a number of top universities from across the globe, including in ICT and business.

Class of 2020 offers learning and development materials on upskilling programmes for graduates, including short courses, live webinars, business challenges, and questions and answers.

Coursera brings together courses and certificates provided online for free by a variety of universities and companies. The main focus is on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, with additional material in other areas also available.

CoursesOnline provides a huge range of training courses from the UK's leading educational providers. There are many courses to choose from, including business, IT, accountancy, human resources, marketing and many more.

Google Digital Garage offers over 40 hours worth of training to get the digital skills you need to start your career or grow your business.

Invest NI offers a wide range of tools and business tutorials to support improvements in business processes and growth. The training needs analysis workshops also give you an insight into the tools and techniques used by learning and development professionals to analyse training needs.

Khan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that let learners study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom, offering mathematics, science, computer programming, history, art history, economics, and more.

Learn My Way is a website of free online courses, built by Good Things Foundation to help people develop their digital skills.

Oxford Home Study College offers a range of fully certified provision including cybersecurity, digital marketing, life coaching, and planning.

Training Matchmaker offers a range of free short courses, based online or across Northern Ireland, in a wide range of technical and vocational areas.

Business Events Finder

You can also search our Events Finder for business-related training, workshops, conferences and webinars from a variety of organisations.

Choosing a training provider: what to consider

When deciding who to select for your training provider, you should consider:

• Does the trainer understand your business? Is their experience relevant to your sector?
• Is the training at the right level, is it tailored to your business, as opposed to being a generic course?
• Do the logistics of the training satisfy you? Is it hosted online or held at an appropriate venue, at the right times and dates that suit your schedule?
• Is the trainer or training business linked to any associations that can recommend them?
• Could you speak to other clients who have undergone the training?

It is likely that there will be a number of suppliers offering possible courses. You should investigate each one thoroughly to ensure they meet your requirements before going ahead.

Skill Up offers opportunities for businesses to retrain and upskill their staff by taking advantage of a range of free accredited courses. The training will be delivered by the local further and higher education providers in Northern Ireland.

Opportunities are available from entry to postgraduate levels, focusing on skills identified by industry, linked to priority economic areas, including:

• green skills
• software
• advanced manufacturing
• childcare
• health and social care
• hospitality
• transversal skills

Training courses available for 2024-25

If you are interested in the training courses available from local colleges and universities for the 2024-25 academic year, visit the provider’s website.

Queen’s University Belfast

Further information and details on how to apply for Queen's University Skill Up courses.

Ulster University

Further information and details on how to apply to the Ulster University Skill Up courses.

St Mary's University College

Further information and details on how to apply to the St Mary's University College course.

Stranmillis University College

Further information and details on how to apply to the Stranmillis University College courses.

North West Regional College

Further information and details on how to apply to the North West Regional College's Skill Up courses.

Belfast Metropolitan College

Further information and details on how to apply to the Belfast Met Skill Up courses.

Northern Regional College

Further information and details on how to apply to the Northern Regional College's Skill Up courses.

Southern Regional College

Further information and details on how to apply to the Southern Regional College's Skill Up courses.

South Eastern Regional College

Further information and details on how to apply to the South Eastern Regional College's Skill Up courses.

South West College

Further information and details on how to apply to the South West College's Skill Up courses.

The Open University

Applications for Open University Skill Up courses closed at midday on Thursday 12 September 2024.

Find further information on the Open University Skill Up courses.

Full list of Skill Up courses

For a breakdown of Skill Up courses available across the organisations, see Skill Up.

Being recognised as an organisation that invests in its people through training and development can impress prospective customers, suppliers, and new recruits.

Investors in People

If you are seeking recognition for your training efforts and effective engagement with staff, you should consider applying for the Investors in People Awards. Investors in People is a management standard for high performance through people. The prestigious accreditation is recognised across the world as a mark of excellence.

Read more on Investors in People: the Standard for people management.

Recognition through business awards

Business awards run by various organisations and local councils usually have award categories that recognise the efforts of employers to train, develop and look after their staff. You may find it beneficial to apply for business awards in order to have your training efforts recognised and rewarded.

Find business awards

You can find business awards by checking our business news section or business support finder.

There are several sources of sector-specific advice on skills development for employees working in a particular industry. Employers can also get involved in helping to influence how training is adapted to match the needs of their industries.

Sectoral partnerships

The purpose of sectoral partnerships is to review and develop the content of all youth traineeship and apprenticeship frameworks from level 2 to level 8 to ensure that all those involved in training are industry-ready.

There are 15 sectoral partnerships that have been established so far, including:

• Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering
• Agri-Food Manufacturing
• Built Environment
• Finance and Accounting
• Hair and Beauty
• Health and Social Care
• Hospitality and Tourism
• ICT
• Life and Health Services
• Sales and Marketing
• Business and Administration
• Childcare and Youth Work
• Civil Engineering
• Creative and Cultural
• Motor Vehicle

Employers are encouraged to become involved in sectoral partnerships to ensure apprentices and trainees are getting high-quality training that provides them with the right skills for a career in their chosen industry.

Read more on sectoral partnerships.

Sector Training Councils (STCs)

Sector Training Councils are independent employer representative bodies in Northern Ireland. Their role is to:

• articulate the skills, education, and training needs of their sectors in the short and long term
• advise on training standards required for their sectors
• work with the Department for the Economy (DfE), employers, and industry trade bodies to ensure that training needs and standards are met

You can find out more about individual Sector Training Councils at the links below:

• Construction Industry Training Board Northern Ireland (CITB NI)
• Electrical Training Trust (ETT)
• Northern Ireland Screen (NIS)
• NI Polymers Association (NIPA)
• Transport Training Services (TTS)

Developing and implementing effective staff training can benefit your employees and your business. By investing in your staff, even on a small training budget, you can drive down costs to your business and help increase sales and profits.

What are the benefits of staff training?

Developing your workforce and improving their skills through training can:

• increase productivity
• enable skills development and spread the skills mix across your teams and organisation
• improve the quality of work
• establish a clear standard for trained members of staff
• give staff more responsibility and ownership of their job role
• reduce faults, waste, or customer complaints with streamlined processes and more competent staff
• positively affect staff morale and motivation - see lead and motivate your staff
• reduce staff turnover and absenteeism
• help your business adapt to change and prepare for growth - see change management and planning business growth
• give you a competitive advantage over your business rivals - see increase your market share
• offer development opportunities for your employees
• help you attract top talent if your business is seen as one that values and invests in their workers - see recruiting staff

Although staff training is often mandatory for new members of staff, it is just as important to offer ongoing training opportunities for long-term employees. This helps staff realise that there is an opportunity within your organisation to develop, grow, and progress. Staff training develops the skills and capabilities that individuals need for their job and improves the overall efficiency and performance of a business as a whole.

To identify training that matches the specific needs of your staff and business goals you can carry out a training needs analysis.

What is a training needs analysis?

Training needs analysis is a method used by businesses to identify training requirements in a cost-efficient way. This process involves evaluating training needs and weighing up training priority areas at all levels within a business. Training needs analysis forms the first step of the training development cycle.

Training development cycle

What are the stages of training needs analysis?

There are three key stages of training needs analysis. These steps involve identifying the direction of the organisation, understanding the skills and knowledge of staff through a task analysis, and analysing the individual needs of each employee. These three stages of training needs analysis are explained in more detail below:

Stage 1: Organisational needs

This step evaluates the overall training needs in the business. This is where you analyse future skills needs due to changes in products, equipment, technology, and teams, or in response to economic or political factors. Upcoming changes in law or industry standards may also influence the training needs of your business.

Practical ways of identifying organisational needs are by reviewing documents, and processes, setting up advisory teams, and carrying out a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and strengths) analysis - see a SWOT analysis example.

Stage 2: Task analysis

At this level, you compare the job requirements of your business with existing employee skills and knowledge. This will help you to identify the potential skills gaps. Here you establish how often specific tasks are performed, the level of skill and knowledge required to perform these tasks, and where and how these skills are best acquired.

Practical ways of carrying out this analysis are to create assessment centres, tests, or practical observations of employees carrying out key tasks.

Stage 3: Individual needs

At this stage, you examine the training needs of each employee. This information is most often gathered from performance reviews and appraisal systems. You may seek feedback from employees on their recommendations on how to solve problems that may be hampering their day-to-day job.

Other practical ways of identifying individual training requirements for your employees are through surveys, questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups. Download our SWOT analysis template with specific staff training questions (DOC, 17K)

Support to help your business with training needs analysis

Invest Northern Ireland offers help and advice to local businesses on upskilling their workforce. The training needs analysis workshops give you an insight into the tools and techniques used by learning and development professionals to analyse training needs.

Training needs analysis tutorial videos

The embedded video below is an introduction to a tutorial on training needs analysis. You can view the full Invest NI training needs analysis tutorial.

After you have identified the staff training required through training needs analysis, you will want to interpret the results and put your findings into practice.

Understanding the training needs analysis process

To effectively implement and deliver the benefits of your training needs analysis, you should consider the following steps:

1. Link skills requirements to your business goals and strategy

Embed the results of your training needs analysis within the direction of future training and skills development. This will ensure that you are applying your training budget effectively to the areas within your business that need it most.

2. Prioritise training needs

This is when you form the justification for your training budget by identifying how training will meet your business's key performance indicators (KPIs) - see use KPIs to assess business performance. Your initial analysis may have identified the need for staff training in multiple areas, so you will need to prioritise the parts that you will focus on first.

For example, you might consider if the training can help employees carry out existing tasks more efficiently or to a higher standard, or if it will train staff to take on a new role with increased responsibilities. In short, you need to identify what is most important to your business.

To help identify priority training courses, you can carry out a training course priority weighting exercise. This is where you weigh up the costs and benefits of a number of training courses to identify the most beneficial one for your business. Download our training course priority weighting template (DOC, 13K).

3. Find training solutions

Establish how you will deliver the training whether in-house or through external trainers. Some options include:

• conferences
• workshops/seminars
• e-learning/webinars
• books/journal
• coaching or mentoring
• job shadowing
• secondment

See a list of training methods to fit your business.

You can search our Events Finder for suitable training courses, workshops, webinars, and other business events.

4. Communicate

It is important to keep your employees informed of the reasons why they may have to complete certain training. Publish your training needs analysis findings and any associated training plans. Invite feedback from your employees on how they found the training they undertook.

5. Evaluate

You should evaluate the training outcomes by demonstrating how the training delivers value for money. Consider naming someone who is responsible for evaluating training (eg a dedicated staff or line manager). Analyse the impact of all training on your employees, business, and productivity.

You can use a range of tools to give you qualitative and quantitative evaluation feedback. You should attempt to assess the impact of the training on employees by comparing their skills and abilities before and after training completion. The evidence you gather at this stage should be fed back to management as a demonstration of how the training provides a return on investment for the business.

Most training providers use evaluation methods that fit into the Kirkpatrick Model of Evaluation for Training (PDF, 302K), where example methods are matched to each level of evaluation.

Support to help your business with training needs analysis

Invest Northern Ireland offers help and advice to local businesses on upskilling their workforce. The training needs analysis workshops give you an insight into the tools and techniques used by learning and development professionals to analyse training needs.

An outline of some methods your business could use to help train your staff, including their advantages and disadvantages.

There are many organisations offering training courses throughout Northern Ireland. There are also free online training resources to help you and your staff develop their skills and make your business more competitive.

Free short-term courses (Skill Up programme)

The Department for the Economy is supporting free places on a range of fully accredited courses, to help individuals retrain and improve their skills. The courses will be delivered by local universities and Further Education colleges through the Skill Up programme. See Skill Up programme: Retrain and upskill your staff.

Open University courses

The Open University has partnered with Invest Northern Ireland to provide local businesses with online training and learning resources to support upskilling in industry.

• Business learning hub – search for online training.

The Open University has also partnered with the Department for the Economy to offer a range of free training to help you improve your skills and wellbeing.

The Open University offers a wide range of online courses.

• View The Open University full catalogue.

Other online courses

AbilityNet helps people of any age and with any disability to use technology to achieve their goals at home, at work, and in education.

Alison is a free learning platform for education and skills training. It is a not-for-profit social enterprise dedicated to making it possible for anyone, to study anything, anywhere, at any time, for free online, at any subject level.

AWS Training & Certification is free to register and offers over 500 free courses to build AWS Cloud Skills.

BBC Skillswise offers a collection of free videos and downloadable worksheets to help adult learners improve their reading, writing and numeracy skills.

BT Skills for Tomorrow offers a range of free resources anyone can use to help them stay safe, connected and informed online.

Carnegie Trust in partnership with CILIP Library Association offers online development materials on leadership and innovation, including transformation, creativity, and innovation, influencing skills and power.

Class Central offers several thousand free online courses that have been developed by a number of top universities from across the globe, including in ICT and business.

Class of 2020 offers learning and development materials on upskilling programmes for graduates, including short courses, live webinars, business challenges, and questions and answers.

Coursera brings together courses and certificates provided online for free by a variety of universities and companies. The main focus is on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, with additional material in other areas also available.

CoursesOnline provides a huge range of training courses from the UK's leading educational providers. There are many courses to choose from, including business, IT, accountancy, human resources, marketing and many more.

Google Digital Garage offers over 40 hours worth of training to get the digital skills you need to start your career or grow your business.

Invest NI offers a wide range of tools and business tutorials to support improvements in business processes and growth. The training needs analysis workshops also give you an insight into the tools and techniques used by learning and development professionals to analyse training needs.

Khan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that let learners study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom, offering mathematics, science, computer programming, history, art history, economics, and more.

Learn My Way is a website of free online courses, built by Good Things Foundation to help people develop their digital skills.

Oxford Home Study College offers a range of fully certified provision including cybersecurity, digital marketing, life coaching, and planning.

Training Matchmaker offers a range of free short courses, based online or across Northern Ireland, in a wide range of technical and vocational areas.

Business Events Finder

You can also search our Events Finder for business-related training, workshops, conferences and webinars from a variety of organisations.

Choosing a training provider: what to consider

When deciding who to select for your training provider, you should consider:

• Does the trainer understand your business? Is their experience relevant to your sector?
• Is the training at the right level, is it tailored to your business, as opposed to being a generic course?
• Do the logistics of the training satisfy you? Is it hosted online or held at an appropriate venue, at the right times and dates that suit your schedule?
• Is the trainer or training business linked to any associations that can recommend them?
• Could you speak to other clients who have undergone the training?

It is likely that there will be a number of suppliers offering possible courses. You should investigate each one thoroughly to ensure they meet your requirements before going ahead.

Skill Up offers opportunities for businesses to retrain and upskill their staff by taking advantage of a range of free accredited courses. The training will be delivered by the local further and higher education providers in Northern Ireland.

Opportunities are available from entry to postgraduate levels, focusing on skills identified by industry, linked to priority economic areas, including:

• green skills
• software
• advanced manufacturing
• childcare
• health and social care
• hospitality
• transversal skills

Training courses available for 2024-25

If you are interested in the training courses available from local colleges and universities for the 2024-25 academic year, visit the provider’s website.

Queen’s University Belfast

Further information and details on how to apply for Queen's University Skill Up courses.

Ulster University

Further information and details on how to apply to the Ulster University Skill Up courses.

St Mary's University College

Further information and details on how to apply to the St Mary's University College course.

Stranmillis University College

Further information and details on how to apply to the Stranmillis University College courses.

North West Regional College

Further information and details on how to apply to the North West Regional College's Skill Up courses.

Belfast Metropolitan College

Further information and details on how to apply to the Belfast Met Skill Up courses.

Northern Regional College

Further information and details on how to apply to the Northern Regional College's Skill Up courses.

Southern Regional College

Further information and details on how to apply to the Southern Regional College's Skill Up courses.

South Eastern Regional College

Further information and details on how to apply to the South Eastern Regional College's Skill Up courses.

South West College

Further information and details on how to apply to the South West College's Skill Up courses.

The Open University

Applications for Open University Skill Up courses closed at midday on Thursday 12 September 2024.

Find further information on the Open University Skill Up courses.

Full list of Skill Up courses

For a breakdown of Skill Up courses available across the organisations, see Skill Up.

Being recognised as an organisation that invests in its people through training and development can impress prospective customers, suppliers, and new recruits.

Investors in People

If you are seeking recognition for your training efforts and effective engagement with staff, you should consider applying for the Investors in People Awards. Investors in People is a management standard for high performance through people. The prestigious accreditation is recognised across the world as a mark of excellence.

Read more on Investors in People: the Standard for people management.

Recognition through business awards

Business awards run by various organisations and local councils usually have award categories that recognise the efforts of employers to train, develop and look after their staff. You may find it beneficial to apply for business awards in order to have your training efforts recognised and rewarded.

Find business awards

You can find business awards by checking our business news section or business support finder.

There are several sources of sector-specific advice on skills development for employees working in a particular industry. Employers can also get involved in helping to influence how training is adapted to match the needs of their industries.

Sectoral partnerships

The purpose of sectoral partnerships is to review and develop the content of all youth traineeship and apprenticeship frameworks from level 2 to level 8 to ensure that all those involved in training are industry-ready.

There are 15 sectoral partnerships that have been established so far, including:

• Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering
• Agri-Food Manufacturing
• Built Environment
• Finance and Accounting
• Hair and Beauty
• Health and Social Care
• Hospitality and Tourism
• ICT
• Life and Health Services
• Sales and Marketing
• Business and Administration
• Childcare and Youth Work
• Civil Engineering
• Creative and Cultural
• Motor Vehicle

Employers are encouraged to become involved in sectoral partnerships to ensure apprentices and trainees are getting high-quality training that provides them with the right skills for a career in their chosen industry.

Read more on sectoral partnerships.

Sector Training Councils (STCs)

Sector Training Councils are independent employer representative bodies in Northern Ireland. Their role is to:

• articulate the skills, education, and training needs of their sectors in the short and long term
• advise on training standards required for their sectors
• work with the Department for the Economy (DfE), employers, and industry trade bodies to ensure that training needs and standards are met

You can find out more about individual Sector Training Councils at the links below:

• Construction Industry Training Board Northern Ireland (CITB NI)
• Electrical Training Trust (ETT)
• Northern Ireland Screen (NIS)
• NI Polymers Association (NIPA)
• Transport Training Services (TTS)