1. Employer Engagement A Strategic Approach
Tristram Hughes, Research Manager
Raj Patel, Programme Manager

2. Outline for this afternoon
What is employer engagement?
What is your strategy?
Knowing your market
Being responsive

3. Our recent work in this area
Developing Training Excellence (and previously TQS)
Research with employers into demand for and perceptions of HE and FE, including employer survey for Linking London
Supporting universities on market research and CPD strategies
Evaluation of HEFCE’s Transforming Workforce Development Programme

4. What is employer engagement?

5. The importance of employer engagement
Its place and priority within institutions varies
Following policy trends
Intrinsic link to apprenticeships and vocational provision in FE
In HE it can be less central, but depends on the institution
Complements wider research/KE/employability activities
Valuable source of income

6. Employer engagement challenges
Competitive market
Doing more with less
Institutional challenges
Shifting financial burden from state to employers/individuals
Less co-funding and subsidy
“Taxpayers should not be involved in subsidising employers by paying for workplace activity that includes large amounts of firm-specific training”
Alison Wolf

7. Your experience How do you define employer engagement?
Has this definition changed?
How important is employer engagement to your institution?
What challenges are you facing?

8. What is your strategy?

9. Building blocks for strategy
Define market
Define business
Define structure
Define stakeholders

10. Standalone
Employer engagement unit
Departments/faculties

11. Hub and spoke
Departments/faculties
Employer engagement unit

12. Departments/faculties
Distributed
Departments/faculties

13. Leadership and governance
Standalone
Hub and Spoke
Distributed
Vehicle
A wholly owned subsidiary or a separate, largely self contained division within the institution
A ‘hub and spoke’ arrangement with varying levels of integration between a centrally co-ordinated business development function and the institution’s academic divisions
A decentralised model with academic divisions operating independently and collaboratively (i.e. on a cross-faculty basis), when appropriate
Leadership and governance
Chief Executive Officer or Managing Director reporting to a Board comprising internal institutional and external (employer) representation
Heads of business development and academic divisions reporting through institutional committee structures
Dedicated steering or advisory group may be established with external representation
Heads or assistant heads of academic divisions reporting through institutional committee structures
Human resources
Strong commercially experienced staff profile, employed through the wholly owned subsidiary on terms and conditions similar to the private sector
Commercially and academically experienced staff profile across the institution’s individual business units, with some use of Performance Related Pay and/or revenue sharing
Strong academically experienced staff profile, employed on terms and conditions which are fairly standard across the HE sector
Business development
Dedicated business development, marketing and sales function which is highly pro-active and sophisticated in approach, supported by a CRM system
Central and distributed sector and discipline oriented business development, marketing and sales function, with varying levels of pro-activity and sophistication, generally supported by an institution-wide CRM system
Distributed, discipline oriented business development, marketing and sales function with limited resource to support pro-active approaches and possibly supported by an institution-wide or locally deployed CRM system
Delivery
Dedicated, in-house delivery capability and capacity supplemented by individual associates and third party providers (e.g. private training providers)
Delivery capability and capacity provided by academic divisions supplemented by individual associates and third party providers (e.g. FE colleges, private training providers)
Delivery capability and capacity provided by academic divisions supplemented by individual associates and collaborative educational partners (e.g. other universities, FE colleges)
Processes and systems
Dedicated, in-house processes and systems designed to enable flexibility and responsiveness
Established institutional processes and systems only used for accounting (e.g. HEFCE returns) and assurance purposes
Established institutional processes and systems used, with institution-wide adaptation to improve flexibility and responsiveness
Established institutional processes and systems used, with localised and institution-wide adaptation to improve flexibility and responsiveness
Branding
Distinct branding separate to institution with the option to use the institution’s brand, as appropriate
Strong institutional branding supported by a sub-brand oriented to employers
Strong institutional and/or academic division branding

14. Developing an effective WFD offer
EMPLOYER / INDIVIDUAL MARKET FOR WfD
Product development
Market analysis
Capability review
COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
WfD OFFER

15. Capability strategy Define objectives Develop products
Target customers
Action improvement
Analyse markets

16. What is your strategy?
Do you have a written employer engagement strategy or strategies?
How do these fit within other institutional priorities/strategies?
How does your strategy inform your operating model?

17. Knowing your market

18. CPD market It is a big market It is a crowded market
Individuals and employers are two distinct but related segments – will require different approaches...
...but 50% of individuals select CPD provider on behalf of their employer

19. Linking London employer survey – HLS (2009)
Base: 211
Base: 211
Base: 223
Base: 302
Base: Employers with 50+ employees

20. Institutional approaches to market intelligence
Using secondary data sources – Labour Force Survey, etc
Coordinating with Jobcentre Plus, SSCs, professional bodies and other stakeholders
Customer voice research with existing and prospective customers
Satisfaction surveys
Focus groups
Alumni surveys (focusing on alumni as future customers)
Competitor analysis

21. Market positioning Product Market Service Price Private provider A
Flexible training
Unrestricted
Flexible delivery
High
University B
World leading education
Blue chip / government
Mainly traditional
delivery
FE college C
High quality accredited training
Local area only
Mainly traditional delivery
Medium
You..? ?

22. Market share of HLS by provider type
Base: 183

23. How do you understand your market?
Surveys?
Consultations, focus groups?
Consulting professional bodies?
Sector skills councils?
Alumni surveys?
At what level?
Institution wide?
Faculty/Department?
Specific qualifications/courses?

24. Coffee break?

25. Being responsive

26. Playing to your strengths
What are you known for?
Do you know what you’re known for? How?
What makes you authoritative?
Why would an employer want to buy from you?
Customer satisfaction/repeat business
What can you build on?
Internal consultations
Market positioning against competitors
Can you collaborate to build a more complete offer?

27. Being Responsive: Basic, Performance & Excitement Characteristics
Type
Definition
Characteristics
Basic
The must-haves; without these employers won’t be satisfied
Teaching staff with the right knowledge
Clear course objectives
Accessible sales approach
Performance
The key elements which are typically used to determine satisfaction if the basics are in place.
Low bureaucracy / usable service
Competent staff
Helpful and accessible attitudes
Right delivery styles / techniques
Good value for money
Excitement
The nice-to-haves; the factors that impress and employers are willing to pay for.
Up-to-date course content
Willingness to tailor and adapt
Course content relevant to our needs
Right time for delivery
Right place for delivery
Track record

28. The employer’s journey: how satisfaction evolves

29. Barriers to Training?
“Formal training doesn’t deliver skills I need”
“Previous training hasn’t delivered!”
“It’s too expensive” ?
“My staff may leave or start asking for more money.”
“I just don’t know much about what’s available.”
“It’s going to be too disruptive” 29

30. Barriers to Training Disruption to work patterns Financial cost
Lack of knowledge about the range of provision available
Concern staff will become more susceptible to poaching
Lack of suitable training provision
Reluctance of staff
Concern acquisition of new skills will lead to higher wage demands
Previous training less beneficial than hoped
Formal training not the best way to develop skills
Previous training not delivered in the past

31. Barriers to Training….

32. The Improvement Framework…

33. Five principles…
Ready Communications Excellent Training Organisations communicate readily, clearly and frequently with all stakeholders about what the organisation is doing to satisfy  their needs.
Rigorous Analysis Excellent Training Organisations rely on facts and rigorous analysis to make decisions on strategy and service delivery, securing impact for customers’ businesses.
Responsive Service Excellent Training Organisations respond to customers’ needs and expectations with high and responsive  standards of service, driving customer satisfaction.
Robust Deployment Excellent Training Organisations are robust  in deploying  their internal plans and their proposals to customers, achieving sustained business results.
Rich Content Excellent Training Organisations draw on innovation and best practice to create and deliver rich content  which secures impact  for customers’ businesses.

34. For more information
Tristram Hughes Raj Patel