LEARNERSHIP PROGRAMMES THAT NOW OFFER A MONTHLY STIPEND
- Published on 22 Mar 2017
- HR Pulse
Learnerships have become an entrenched and valuable way of creating jobs. Companies have increasingly embraced the concept of learnership programmes, because of all the benefits that can be derived for all parties. It is an important quadrangular relationship between the employer, the project manager, the training facilitator and the learner, with all four parties being equally dependent upon each other for the success of the programme.
Aslam Galant, Business Development & General Manager in the Cape Town Division at Isilumko Staffing (IS), says, “IS has for many years been working closely with some of the country’s leading companies in various industries nationally, providing suitable candidates for learnership programmes.
“As part of a large multi-national organization, IS has had the advantage of being able to incorporate certain concepts and strategies into our own business model. By contributing funded stipend payments to people participating in learnership programmes, it makes the participants much more motivated and incentivized to become upskilled.”
Galant says that there are many benefits derived from completing learnerships, usually a period of not less than 12 months. The companies that we are dealing with have embraced transformation and have accepted the responsibility to create opportunities for young aspiring individuals to develop their skills and talents. However, learners must accept responsibility to transform themselves, and also use this opportunity to develop their skills, gain experience and maximize their potential. It creates an ideal opportunity to showcase their talents and skills to potential employers. Future leaders could be discovered, while the company gets the benefit of certain tax relief, by scoring points on the B-BBEE scorecard.
Galants adds that IS is involved in facilitating the learnership programme process from start to finish. He says that the company acts as the project manager in the client learnership programme relationships. This, by providing all the necessary recruitment steps to select the learners as per their client’s requirements. Included are: screening; managing the whole process between the lead employer; finding suitable hosts if clients don’t have capacity and placing learners after the learnership; looking after all the HR requirements; payroll; selection of hosting environments and selection and management of the training provider. IS also focuses on the outcomes, by incorporating measurements for success. They are in effect providing a talent pool and career path for their corporate clients. Some of whom have also specifically requested that people with disabilities participate on their programmes.
Galant continues, “Isilumko is highly selective of candidates for the 12 month learnership programmes. By selecting and filtering learners with a higher level of education, including matric, numeracy, literacy and even role-playing skills, they stand a better chance of completing the programmes. They are also more likely to succeed in reducing the high attrition rate prevalent in some industries such as contact centres, for example. As project managers IS keeps in regular contact with the learners on-site together with their training facilitators throughout the course to ensure that they are motivated. Our expertise includes finding positions in the areas of financial services, contact centres, retail, industrial including manufacturing, customer service and administration. Keeping our clients and the learners satisfied is a top priority.”
“The companies that we are dealing with often introduce learnerships in order to fulfil their operational staffing needs. They also recognize that learnerships offer a multi-purpose approach of talent identification, wage bill subsidization, tax relief benefits, B-BBEE scorecard benefits and labour legislation flexibility. Companies have also accepted the responsibility to create opportunities for young aspiring individuals to develop their skills and talents,” concludes Galant.
