In March 2007, the then Minister for Tourism, Shaun Woodward MP launched the National Skills Strategy (NSS) for the hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism sector in England.

The strategy called ‘raising the bar’ set out a Ten Point Plan to raise the skill levels of the sector’s current and future workforce. As the title suggests it also alluded to the massive opportunity that hosting the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games presents for the sector.

Hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism is a large, exciting, diverse and dynamic sector. It has a global reputation for quality and innovation which are richly deserved. However, the sector could be achieving much more if employers were able to recruit the right people with the right skills and that they could hold on to a highly skilled workforce. This is what the strategy aims to achieve. There are no easy answers, but what the ten point plan presents is a clear strategy to tackle existing challenges and raise the skills and performance of the sector.

Hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism is a large and growing sector currently employing nearly 1.4m people in England. The sector is made up of 14 industries; these vary in size with the largest industry – restaurants employing over 430,000 people and the smallest – youth hostels just over 1,600. England accounts for 83% of all sector employment across the UK.

There are approximately 155,958 individual hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism establishments in England of which a third are pubs, bars and nightclubs and an additional third are restaurants. Small and micro businesses are predominant with 76% of establishments employing fewer than 10 people. However, in terms of the workforce the industry is highly polarised. For example, in hospitality 45% of employees work for 280 employers and another 45% are employed in small and micro businesses.

The sector is hugely important for the economy. In 2005, it accounted for 3.5% of the UK economy and was worth approximately £85bn. In 2005 the UK ranked fifth in the international tourism earnings league behind the USA, Spain, France and Italy.

Sector performance is being undermined by a poor skills record:

• 54% of managers do not possess the minimum level of qualification required for their position
• 63% of employers believe their staff’s customer service skills are not sufficient to meet their needs
• 40% of chefs do not possess a qualification at level 2, the minimum required to prepare and cook from scratch
• High labour turnover is resulting in a chronic recruitment crisis with 70 percent of recruitment being undertaken to replace existing staff
• Conservative estimates suggest that we are annually losing 590,640 people or 30% of the workforce
• This costs the sector £886m a year
• By 2012, the sector would have lost 4.1m people costing the sector £6.2bn.

Learn Skills has sellected the Hospitality Sector as one it will focus on to deliver quality web-based training in order to upskill and improve retention rates among staff.  As in Ireland, the Hospitality sector is essential to the success of the economy as a whole and web-based training can delivery increased value and consistency of delivery to both employees and management with the Hospitality sector.

UK – 25th August, 2008 -  The Institute for Learning (IfL) is calling all teachers in an LSC-funded provision not to miss the 30 September 2008 deadline for registration as a teaching professional.

In September 2007, the government introduced regulations aimed at ensuring that the further education and skills sector has a qualified, professional workforce with up-to-date subject and teaching skills.

Work-based learning providers that deliver FE provision through a contract or funding agreement with the Learning and Skills Council are required to ensure that all their teaching staff:

• register as members of IfL
• undertake at least 30 hours’ continuing professional development (CPD) each year (prorated for part-time teachers)
• abide by the Code of Professional Practice

IfL was formed in 2002 and is the professional body for teachers, trainers, tutors and student teachers in the further education sector, including work-based learning.  As an independent body, IfL is run by an elected council and works closely with several sector organisations, unions and employer bodies.  The aim of IfL is to support members and to continue raising the status of teaching practitioners in the sector.

The government will meet the full cost of standard registration for teachers in LSC-funded institutions; teachers will not be asked to pay any fees when registering. Teachers, trainers and tutors who do not work on LSC-funded programmes are also welcome, but will need to pay their own annual subscription.

Source: e-skills UK

Learn Skills will provide a range of high quality web-based teacher training courses that will address the needs of teachers from the viewpoint of CPD.

UK – 9th May, 2008 – The skills shortage in financial services has worsened, according to the Chartered Insurance Institute’s (CII) second annual skills survey.  Three quarters of the 3,511 CII members polled reported a shortage of technical skills, a 5% increase on last year’s survey.

Four out of five firms have said that the problem of recruiting skilled staff has become part of their boardroom agenda.  This increase of 20% on last year shows that more firms are looking to tackle the problem.

The education system took the brunt of the blame for the lack of trained people, with 57% of members saying that the education system had failed to meet the needs of the industry.  Just 3% described basic levels of education as ‘more than adequate’ and said they felt 61% of graduates struggled with basic literacy and numeracy.  The number of firms that believe their employees need higher qualifications has risen 14% from last year to 73%.

Lord Hunt, the CII president, said that the results of the survey served as a ‘wake up call’ and that advisers, professional bodies, the Financial Services Skills Council and the government needed to work together to solve the industry’s problems.

‘In this period of economic instability it is vital that we do not take our eye off the skills issue, tempting though that may be.  Cuts to training budgets in order to make a quick saving will in the end prove to be a false economy,’ he said.

‘The UK financial services industry is world renowned for its commitment to improving the skill levels of its staff.  Yet we cannot be complacent and must continue to commit time and resources to training and development if we are to remain competitive in the face of intense global competition.’

“It for reason like those concern outlined below that Learn Skills intends to offer a range of industry relevant and industry specific courses for the Financial Services Industry”, said Sean Griffin, Co-Founder of Learn Skills, who spend eight years working in this sector and saw first had the damage that can be done by undertraining workforce.

Source: Citywire

Galway, Ireland – 28th August 2008 – Learn Skills, a web-based skills and compliance training company is pleased to announce that from September they will be offering InfoSource Learning’s “How To Master” online content training libraries to corporate, academic and government clients.

With this new partnership, Learn Skills’ corporate and government clients will now have access to content training libraries covering areas such as the Microsoft Suite; including Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Access, 2000 up to 2007. These libraries feature a unique, content-rich environment of interactive, self-paced learning and testing.  Learners will gain experience, retain information, and increase productivity by training in these simulated software environments.

“This partnership will address many of the key concerns that our clients have concerning Digital Literacy by providing them with high quality, up-to-date online courses increases skills levels in this area, said Sean Griffin, Co-Founder of Learn Skills.  “With InfoSource Learning as our partner, our online training library will make it incredibly easy for our customers to start training and address key areas for improving ICT skills and performance.”

These courses can be purchased on an individual basis or as part of an overall bundle of courses for larger numbers of employees through the Learn Skills LMS delivery model.  Some of the key courses that can be purchased through the Learn Skills platform include:

• Internet & Computing Core Certification (IC3)
• Microsoft Office 2007
• Microsoft Office 2003
• Microsoft Office 2002 (XP)
• Windows Operating Systems & Internet

Tom Dalton, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at InfoSource Learning stated, “We firmly believe in the value of our unique training and are very excited to have the opportunity to partner with an excellent company such as Learn Skills.”

Ireland – Tuesday, 5th August, 2008 – Cllr. Pat Whelan has called for the up-skilling of Irish workers after it emerged this week that 90% of new jobs created in the last 12 months were being filled by foreign nationals.

“This information from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) bucks the widely held belief, that many migrant workers will leave Ireland for other EU countries as our economy slows down, and that a large proportion of new jobs being created in Ireland will be taken up by the Irish workforce,” said Cllr. Whelan.

“The biggest share of new jobs are being created in high value sectors like financial and other business services, which grew by 26,300 in the year to the first quarter of 2008, and accounted for almost half (48.9%) of all jobs created. It had been assumed that Irish workers would take up most of these positions. But the CSO data indicates that foreign nationals will be recruited for a significant proportion of these new positions,” the Town Councillor continued.

“This trend needs to be fully researched by Government, as it could well be a warning about Ireland’s ability to attract foreign direct investment. There is no doubt that some of this increase in jobs uptake by migrant workers is due to their improving English language skills, leaving lower skilled jobs and moving up the value chain in line with their educational qualifications,” he said.

“Some of this is as a result of the increasing cost of childcare, as two thirds of the jobs created in the 12 month period were part time and 70% of these jobs were taken up by women. Migrant women have a lower dependency ratio and as a result are in a better position to take up employment.

“But the more worrying concern is that this is partly a result of the Government’s failure to properly re-skill our indigenous workforce to compete for these growth areas in employment. This trend cannot be ignored and it is imperative that the Government acts now, rather than sitting on its hands.

“More migrants moving up the value chain will certainly benefit the economy, but if it continues without being properly evaluated we could be skilling other economies to facilitate the transfer of jobs from Ireland. The Government has consistently buried its head in the sand on this issue, hoping that the economy will rectify itself. But the country needs clear solutions now that will benefit our economic potential in the future.”

Cllr. Whelan said the government needs to identify and up-skill vulnerable workers, expand training for those activities that still offer good prospects, such as professional services, health-related caring professions, IT, home energy efficiency technologies, and HGV drivers, use funding from the NDP and European Social Fund to fund a massive ‘eco-training’ programme for 10,000 skilled workers laid off from the construction sector, and ensure that changes to community childcare supports do not disadvantage those already in employment.

Source: Westmeath Examiner

Learn Skills, the Irish web-based training company that specialises in skills and compliance training, focused on upskilling employees and management has a comprehensive range of courses for anyone interested in upskilling to enhance their career prospects.

Studies by Stanford Research Institute and the Carnegie Mellon Foundation among Fortune 500 CEOs found that 75% of long term job success depended on people skills and only 25% on technical skills.

This is true at other levels as well. For effective performance in the workplace, companies need their employees to have not only domain knowledge, technical and analytical skills, but also the skills to deal with the external world of clients, customers, vendors, the government and public; and to work in a collaborative manner with their colleagues.

The annual rankings of MBA colleges often place communication and interpersonal skills as the most critical skills needed for success in the corporate world.

Noted academic Prof. Henry Mintzberg while speaking on the importance of soft skills for MBAs, refers to the crucial “soft” skills – leadership, teamwork, communication, and the ability to think “outside the box” of a discipline – that separate the best from the rest in the management world.”

Companies are finding that they have to promote people faster than ever before to meet their growth needs.  At the same time, they are finding that the candidates do not have the necessary skills to make the transition from a technical or functional specialist to a team leader, supervisor or manager.  Companies in the IT, BPO, KPO, Biotech, and Pharmaceuticals industries have found that their people need soft skills to work effectively in cross-functional or project teams, local teams or global teams.

Learn Skills, the web-based skills and compliance training company,  can offer a tailored soft-skills program to benefit companies and address these issues and you can contact us for further information by clicking here.

E-learning companies are changing the face of how businesses train their staff.  In this world of people using the Internet on a daily basis, e-learning companies offer a smart solution to an age-old problem of keeping employees educated and updated on the latest trends.

Companies have long battled with the high costs of training their employees, but e-learning companies are offering an affordable solution to this problem.  In the past there were limited choices for companies to keep their employees trained.  A business would either employ a large training department, which costs a great deal of money, or they would be forced to send their employees to outside training events which was also very expensive.

The only other option for business was really no option at all, that is to not give proper and up to date training to their employees.  Businesses understand that not providing their employees with continuing education results in giving their competitors and edge over them.  E-learning companies have developed an affordable way to keep employees trained and educated on the best methods that are used in various industries.

Smart companies are looking for ways to automate their training of employees and the most sensible method is to employ e-learning companies. E-learning companies provide a suite of diverse catalog courses, content management, reliable reporting, online authoring, ease of use, and scalability that can be adjusted as the company grows and changes.

E-learning allows both large and small companies the ability to give their employees the latest and greatest training available.  With the flexibility that e-learning companies provides to their customers the training programs can be adjusted to fit the needs of any company.  Whether you have a work force of fifty or five hundred, e-learning companies have the solution that you are looking for.

Another great benefit of utilizing e-learning companies is that you can control the scheduling of the training sessions much easier.  Instead of taking many employees away from work at one time to do training in a classroom setting, you can utilize the Internet and allow each individual employee to take training courses at the most efficient time possible.  Businesses can even offer training to their employees from their home if the need arises.

There are multiple e-learning companies offering services to businesses and choosing the right one is critically important. Not only must a business consider the cost of purchase, but a business must also consider the return on investment and the amount of time it takes to achieve that return on investment. With e-learning companies such as Learn Skills, you can actually have your system up and running in a matter of days, not weeks like competitors.

Cost is always a factor when choosing which of the elearning companies to go with. When you go with Learn Skills you will be getting one of the most affordable training options for your employees. You will also be receiving a great deal of empowerment since you are able to custom tailor the programs to fit the specific needs of your company.

E-learning companies give you and your business the ability to stay ahead of your competitors and to develop your employees.  E-learning companies are direction that forward thinking businesses are going for their entire employee training needs.  With the convenience and ease of use, e-learning companies are able to meet the needs of their customer in a way never before imagined.

Check out elearning companies such as Learn Skills today and get started training your employees on the latest skills that they need to help your business succeed.

Most companies need to provide some sort of training or instruction to their employees, customers and suppliers.  This is especially true for technology-based organisations.  Typically these companies provide needed training by sending people to colleges, holding in-house training classes, or providing manuals and self-study guides.  In some situations it is advantageous for them to use e-Learning instead of the traditional training.

“Companies need to be aware of both the advantages and disadvantages of e-Learning”, according to Sean Griffin, Co-Founder of Learn Skills, the web-based skills and compliance training company.  “e-Learning needs to be understood for employers to maximise the benefits associated with this training.”

e-Learning, has many advantages over traditional classroom training for the employees in a company, customers using a product, or students in school. These advantages include:

• Better than reading the manual – more interactive and engaging
• Cost-effective – up to 60% more cost effective than traditional training
• Practical – where employees are based countrywide or globally
• Standardized learning – more consistent delivery of training

There are some drawbacks on using eLearning:

• Need access to computer – at home or at work
• Some need access to Internet and broadband
• Must know who to use computer – user must be somewhat computer literate
• Personnel resistance – phobias concerning using computers and tecnology
• Must be well-done – else it’s like being thought by a poor teacher

Businesses make most sound decisions based on potential return-on-investment (ROI). It is assumed that the company has already determined that training their personnel and/or customers is a value-added activity.   Now, the question is whether or not e-Learning is the best route to take.

Criteria for deciding on using eLearning include:

• Cost and practicality of sending learners to class
• Availability of computers and literacy of learners
• Development cost versus number being trained

Weighing these issues, an effective and informed decision can be made.  Companies should consider using eLearning when it is cost effective and practical and when they want standardized training.  PCs must be available, students must not resist using the PCs, and the e-Learning material must be informative and engaging to provide the best results.

Reference: School of Champions website, article by Ron Curtis (revised 4 April 2004)

Why are more companies choosing e-Learning for corporate training?
“e-Learning delivers more training to more people for less money. e-Learning saves time, money, resources, and it delivers measurable, tangible results”, according to Sean Griffin, Co-Founder of Learn Skills, the web-based skills and compliance based company.
Instant access to information is one of the driving factors in today’s Knowledge Economy. Lifelong learning is the key to a successful career. The key to this success is moving knowledge from the people who have it to the people who need it. e-Learning gives you the power to do exactly that. Virtually anyone can sharpen skills or develop new ones.
Key benefits associated with e-Learning with Learn Skills include:

• Inexpensive and Cost Savings: Without travel time or expenses, you’re putting more of your training budget into training, thus saving up to 40 to 60 percent. And students can access their courses as often as they need.
• Accessibility of Training: Deliver knowledge on-demand, with up-to-the-minute information. Learners can access training instantly, when and where they want or need it, either at the office or at home, 24/7.
• Flexibility: Students can choose from a variety of interactive self-paced courses, and they can take advantage of our extensive course listing. They have the option to complete a course in one session and split it into smaller chunks.
• Consistency: e-Learning is a more consistent delivery and not not reliant on the skills and knowledge of the trainer.
• Measurement: Learn Skills provides a selection of tools and applications to monitor learner’s progress, and produce detailed activity reports. You can easily monitor what employees have learned, when they’ve completed courses, how they performed, and their levels of improvement.
• Variety: Hundreds of in-depth courses are available instantly; covering everything from business skills and leadership to workplace safety and IT.

Learn Skills provides you with the learning environment that engages the unsupervised learner, resulting in employees who show more participation, more enthusiasm, and ultimately, greater learning success and increased productivity.

Our staff are ready to help you with any questions you may have, simply contact us.

Soft skills refer to a very diverse range of abilities such as:

• Self-awareness
• Analytical thinking
• Leadership skills
• Team-building skills
• Flexibility
• Ability to communicate effectively
• Creativity
• Problem-solving skills
• Listening skills
• Diplomacy
• Change-readiness

Many people often refer to ‘soft skills’ as ‘people skills’ or ‘emotional intelligence’. Hard skills are the technical abilities required to do a job or perform a task: essentially they are acquired through training and education programs, like those offered by Learn Skills.

Importance of Soft Skills

According to psychologist Daniel Coleman, a combination of competencies that contribute to a person’s ability to manage his or herself and relate to other people-matters twice as much as IQ or technical skills in job success.

Results of a recent studies on the importance of soft skills indicated that the single most important soft skill for a job candidate to possess was interpersonal skills, followed by written or verbal communication skills and the ability to work under pressure.

A constantly changing work environment – due to technology, customer-driven markets, an knowledge-based economy and globalisation that are currently impacting on the structure of the workplace and leading to an increased reliance on, and demand for, soft skills.

Soft skills are not a replacement for hard- or technical-skills. They are, in many instances, complementary, and serve to unlock the potential for highly effective performance in people qualified with the requisite hard skills.

Learn Skills provides a comprehensive range of soft-skill courses for employees who want to enhance their work performance and improve their employability.

Reference: sitagita.com