Why are apprenticeships so important?
By a former apprentice who employs apprentices
Part 2 - In the second in our series of three articles, Ettan Bazil give us the inside track on the value of apprenticeships.
I’ll never forget the first year of my plumbing and heating apprenticeship. I was completely green. In my first few weeks I had put my foot through a ceiling, walked through a glass screen door and had many other comical mishaps.
Fast forward 5 years and I was running my own company with my first apprentice in the passenger seat, passing on the knowledge that had been passed down to me by my father.
At my company Elite Heating and Plumbing, we have trained 6 apprentices in the last 6 years. You could argue that this is because it’s easier to have two sets of hands on a job, and that would be true. However, the real reason behind why we keep taking on and training apprentices is because I truly believe in the learning cycle that exist between mentor and apprentice, and that giving back is an important part of owning a trades business.
A trade is a craft. And to become a master any craft takes repetition and the ability to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes without significant consequences. This takes time and patience from both mentor and apprentice and this process cannot be sidestepped through accelerated training courses or class-based qualifications.
We spend years teaching our apprentices how to solder copper pipe without leaving any excess solder on the joints, how to make bends in pipework with a set of hand benders doing it “by eye” so that no measurements are required. All of these things are skills that need to be honed to perfection.
So why are there not enough apprentices in the UK? Why do we have an ageing workforce without enough fresh entrants into the construction sector? From the point of view of the employer you could say that an employee that isn’t actually earning any money for the company for the first 3 years is too much of an investment. Especially If they leave employment as soon as the apprenticeship has been completed. I often hear the phrase “I’m not training up the competition”, which implies that tradespeople believe that if they invest time into an apprentice, they are likely to take those skills and set up their own firm, in direct competition with the mentor.
You could also say that young people are less likely to dedicate themselves to completing an apprenticeship. Spending 4 years of young adulthood on a low wage learning a trade is a big commitment. It takes patience and a sense of purpose. It’s far easier to go and get a job that pays good money.
From my point of view, the biggest thing holding employers back is the lack of government support. When you take on an apprentice, the government issues you with a £1K grant. This isn’t even enough to cover uniform and fuel costs for the first year, let alone wages and paying for all of the leaks and mishaps that are commonplace when allowing an apprentice to fly free for the first time in the workplace.
We have a responsibility as a nation to encourage more apprenticeships, both as employers and in government, and I believe more should be done to support this aim with regard to financial support and incentives.
There are also new and exciting ways that training and mentorship can be delivered. Remote technologies, such as the video software developed by Trade Innovations, can be used to connect apprentices to mentors quickly and efficiently when they have a problem or a question. We should be encouraging the use of these technologies to compliment traditional training and education as workplace tools, and be looking at new and more efficient ways to deliver training across the board.
As far as Elite Heating and Plumbing are concerned, we will continue to take on and develop new apprentices and promote and support the learning cycle that I, and my predecessors were so fortunate to be a part of.
_________________________________________________________________________
Next in the series: The best way to predict the future is to invent it
In our final article, Russell Thompson (Chair, Direct Works) takes the long view and asks how we can create a thriving sector that young people want to be a part of.
__________________________________________________________________________
About the Author
Ettan Bazil | Director at Trade Innovations Ltd. and Elite Heating and Plumbing Ltd.
Ettan Bazil is a former gas engineer and plumber that set down the tools to help improve the construction industry through the use of innovation. After building a successful plumbing and heating company, Elite Heating and Plumbing, He launched Help me Fix, a software solution designed to improve the maintenance process in the private rented and social housing sectors. Since the Help me Fix video triage service was launched in 2019 it has been implemented in over 20,000 properties nationwide. Ettan has been featured in several publications and podcasts in the lettings sector as well in The Times, The Express and on BBC Radio talking about construction.
