17 May 2019 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal
More than 90 per cent of hospitality sector leaders believe the government needs to be doing more to promote apprenticeships, according to a poll taken at an Umbrella Training conference held in London this week.
The event, entitled 'Combating the skills and labour gap in a post-Brexit society', brought together figures from across the hotels, clubs, restaurant and food service sector to discuss key challenges facing the industry over the next few years.
Attendees were surveyed on a number of key issues, largely focused on how the sector can tackle its perennial skills shortages - expected to be exasperated should Britain withdraw from the European Union.
More than 60 HR directors and managers, learning and development managers and specialists, recruitment managers, general managers and CEOs discussed issues ranging from how to engage the next generation, finding innovative solutions to skills shortages - and how to maintain new talent pipelines.
The government is initially committed to creating three million apprenticeships by 2020, but sector experts signalled that far more must be done to encourage businesses and individuals to consider apprenticeships as part of their succession planning.
The survey also found that a large proportion of senior leaders within the sector (35 per cent) saw apprenticeships as a key driver in developing their succession plans - helping to mitigate against the recruitment challenges the sector is facing.
Almost half (44 per cent) also added that it is important for providers to offer quality training programmes as part of their approach to developing apprentices.