Most organisations have a commitment to training their staff - through in house company specific short courses or increasingly by nationally recognised qualifications at certificate and diploma level, delivered and assessed by registered training organisations.
· There are obvious benefits with staff having formal qualifications at a national standard e.g. to meet any industry licencing and regulatory requirements; create a competitive edge; increase productivity; and create a learning culture in the organisation. The latter has the effect of also retaining and attracting staff and creating learning as an “expectation” for staff members to continue upgrading their skills and knowledge
· But with any such benefits there are also negatives, some of which include:
- Fees and charges payable to the training organisation. These may be significant
- Staff absence from the workplace often at peak times
- Training not being available / inflexible to your company on demand. Most public training providers such as TAFE only operate on a semester basis to a strict timetable
- Possible variations in both quality of training and trainers between training organisations
- Lack of customised training – e.g. company specific sales strategies
- The company not receiving the full benefits of government funded programs with the training organisation and third parties being the main beneficiaries
· Although aware of these limitations we often choose to accept them, given that overall the training meets our requirements and we want to focus on our business
· However, if we are not satisfied, there is a net benefit to our company regarding the use of external training organisations there is an alternative!
· Become your own enterprise based registered training organisation and offer nationally and company customised training to your staff using your own selected experienced and qualified trainers!!
· How do you do that?
· A couple of options you can consider.
A do it yourself approach. You gather the information required from various sources including the state or territory training authority (STA) and associated online sites and /or obtain that material from organisations that promote their registration assistance services usually by selling information on CD ROM; and you lodge the completed documents with the STA along with details of the courses you wish to deliver
Direct cost associated with this process may not be great but indirect costs can have an impact on the company – you will need a project officer not only to manage the registration process but also the ongoing compliance and continuous improvement requirements.
A second alternative to handling it all in house is to engage an external consultant to work in conjunction with management and a contact person within the company to handle all aspects of the registration process and assist with ongoing compliance as required.
However you may need to establish firstly their past track record in this area and knowledge of the Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF) being the overall framework under which a registered training organisation operates and the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) which sets the levels for qualifications.
· A good consultant is not just a trainer and assessor or a compliance person – they should have a sound knowledge of the above and also be able to work closely with the client and the registering body and appreciate that learning and development is not just a case of running courses. It is an integral part of the company’s human resource information system and the overall company’s business strategy! This business decision should expect to see a return on investment (ROI)
· Essentially a company with a commitment to the development of its valuable staff through formal training has two main options: use external registered training providers or become registered in their own right. It is your choice with benefits that can be clearly defined from each pathway.
