There are a number of benefits to corporates pursuing learnerships for people with disabilities within their organisations: they help meet B-BBEE targets, they expand CSI efforts, they help address unemployment among a vulnerable group in South Africa, and they bring about meaningful change in the lives of people with disabilities.
However, facilitating a learnership for people with disabilities can be challenging, and despite all the clear advantages, all too often HR managers feel ill-equipped to manage such programmes. The result is that learnerships lacking dedicated resources and managers seldom succeed.
The learnership issues most commonly encountered by HR personnel fall into three areas:
- The daily management of learners
- The impact on internal resources
- Ensuring value for both the business and learners
Daily management of learners
On a day-to-day basis, HR managers need to get to grips with managing poor learner attendance, late coming by learners, and learners being registered on multiple learnerships. In addition, fake doctors’ letters are often a problem, making it difficult to know the true extent of a person’s disability.
Progression has the capability to take over the daily management of learners, overseeing attendance, late coming, learnership registrations, the interrogation of doctors’ letters, and the verification of learners’ disabilities. We perform ongoing performance reviews and performance management where necessary.
This streamlines the everyday HR management of learners and the various programmes that they are on.
Impact on internal resources
A common concern raised by HR managers is managing the extra admin associated with learnerships, especially when it comes to B-BBEE verification. This, along with providing sufficient workplace experience, is often seen as a drain on internal resources, which have not been specifically dedicated to learnerships.
Progression becomes an extension of its clients’ businesses by fulfilling a comprehensive HR and IR function for learners. We assume responsibility for all admin surrounding the registering and verifying of learnership programmes, assist with securing relevant workplace experience with dedicated managers, oversee payroll management for learners, and offer CCMA representation where necessary.
We provide full-spectrum corporate support in what is a foreign landscape for many HR personnel.
Ensuring value for learners
Learnerships have the potential to be truly life-changing for all the people involved – even within the host company. But to do so, they must add tangible value to the learners. This is achieved by pairing learners with the correct mentors; ensuring regular and meaningful mentorship takes place; and engaging with the necessary SETAs. Progression takes all the pressure off corporates by managing the mentorship process, and by engaging the correct SETAs for learners.
An outsourced learnership management solution
Learnerships, and all the subtle nuances that come with managing the day-to-day issues associated with these programmes, are not always within the ambit of an HR manager’s skill set. A niche company specialising in learnerships, however, can easily tackle these perceived problem areas, providing smooth sailing for both the learners and the host companies involved.
As a specialist service provider offering comprehensive learnership management solutions, we enable companies to effectively outsource all the HR and IR functions associated with their learnerships.
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