This year shows a stronger focus on apprenticeships and traineeships as the Federal Government continues to support young people entering the workforce.
Posted on 23/04/21 in
Gumnut Patisserie, a leading employer of apprentices and trainees in the Southern Highlands (NSW), shines at the 2021 Royal Easter Show. Read why apprentices helped with their success.
This year shows a stronger focus on apprenticeships and traineeships as the Australian Government continues to support young people entering the workforce, while also establishing a skills pipeline to meet the future needs of employers.
Gumnut Patisserie, a leading employer of apprentices and trainees in the Southern Highlands (NSW) and valued client of Apprenticeship Support Australia, recently won the President’s Medal at the 2021 Sydney Royal Easter Show. They credit much of this award and their ongoing success to their investment in apprentices and trainees. “They’re the foundation and future of our workforce”, says owner, Tracy Nickl.
This is a sentiment echoed by judge Michael Bullen of the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW “Their wall of champion apprentices really underpins their commitment to supporting their staff and growing the business”.
Gumnut Patisserie has consistently trained and supported some of Australia’s best pastry chefs, including Joshua Nickl, who won both the 2020 NSW Apprentice of the Year and 2020 People’s Choice Award Apprentice of the Year.
As commented by Nickl, “a business cannot succeed with just having people at the top or just employing unskilled staff. You need a full gamut of staff. You need a first-year, you need a third-year, you need a fourth-year. You need those people who are transitioning from training through to the fully-fledged tradesman, so you need all levels in every business for diversity of skills, for diversity of knowledge, just for all things”.
Nickl explains further “if we had a room full of people like me, I would look ordinary. You just can’t have that in any organisation”.
Organisations hoping to echo the success of businesses like
Gumnut Patisserie now have more opportunity than ever to guide their success and the future workforce through hiring and training an apprentice.
The Australian Government’s Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements (BAC) wage scheme has received additional funding and has had the previous cap on applicants removed to provide additional support to employers interested in hiring an apprentice. This will also give businesses the confidence they need to invest in new staff during these uncertain economic times. The latest round of funding is available until 30 September 2021.
This funding will help businesses save costs and allow them to adequately train apprentices, which can improve retention rates, productivity and job satisfaction.
Peter Gilchrist, General Manager at Apprenticeship Support Australia, believes these benefits have the potential to strengthen Australia’s workforce going forward. “Given apprenticeships require a long-term commitment, BAC paves the way for developing skills for tomorrow and securing a strong road to economic recovery and Australia’s future.”
Our dedicated team of expert industry-specific training consultants can provide the knowledge and advice needed to help sign up your next apprentice or trainee. Please reach out to one of our consultants
here.