Skills for Growth is a strategic planning and workforce development program run by the Government of Victoria that provides small and medium businesses in the State of Victoria with free access to skilled business consultants and to employee training opportunities. The program’s objective is to help the owners of small and medium businesses attain higher levels of success by identifying the key objectives and goals of their businesses and assessing and addressing skills shortages in thier workforce.

Some of the key benefits of the Skills for Growth program include:

- Improved performance and productivity across the business

- Improved employee effectiveness and efficiency

- Increased capability to innovate

- Expanded range of employee capabilities

- Decreased costs

All of which, of course, lead to the realization of the ultimate benefit for businesses: improved profits.

Skills for Growth Program Background

Because the Government of Victoria recognised the fact that small and medium businesses are the key driver of the state’s economy – they make up about ninety nine percent of all businesses and employ around one milliion people – they decided to create and fund – to the tine of $52 million – the Skills for Growth program in an effort to ensure their continued competitiveness and growth.

Skills for Growth launched in April of 2009 with 25 Service Providers – working in partnership with independent workforce planning and training Specialists – approved to provide accredited training services to eligible businesses.

Skills for Growth Structure

After businesses register with the Skills for Growth initiative and select a Service Provider that best meets their needs, Service Providers assign independent workforce planning and training Specialists to content the business owner/manager and arrange for onsite meetings.

It’s necessary for workforce planning and training Specialists to have completed a Training and Assessment (TAA) course, as well as an accredited training course in Assess Informal Learning (AIL), a prerequisite for which is the completion of several units from Certificate IV.

There are basically two phases to the Skills for Growth program.

Phase 1

In Phase One, a workforce planning and training Specialists meets with the business owner/manager and carries out a business analysis that results in the creation of a workforce development plan. Among other things, a workforce development plan identifies opportunities for skill development and provides recommendations for training.

Basic overview of the key steps to the first phase are:

- Completion of a high-level business analysis that looks at, among other things, the strategic direction of the business

- Assessing the capabilities and training needs of the workforce, especially as they relate to the strategic direction of the business

- Developing a Workforce Training and Action Plan that maps out business needs and workforce skills needs and that provides referrals to key training programs and developmental opportunities

There are no costs associated with participating in the first phase.

Phase 2

The second phase of the program unfolds only if the business owner or manager decides to proceed with the training recommendations.

Following are the steps to the second phase of the Skills for Growth program:

- Facilitating the placement of staff into training course with accredited training organisations

- Completion of a follow-up review after staff have completed training – or have undergone at least three months of training – and of a Skills for Growth report which must be reviewed and approved by the business (any employees hired by the business after the initial review receive individual training plans)

Although there are costs associated with the second phase of the Skills for Growth program, a business’ staff may be eligible for the Victorian Training Guarantee which can provide significant subsidies for Victorians who are placed into recognised vocational training courses. Some of the basic eligibility considerations are: age, residency status, educational background, and citizenship.

The Skills for Growth program typically takes four weeks to complete, with the follow-up review generally completed after six months.

Eligibility for the Skills for Growth Program

The Skills for Growth program is open to all small and medium sized businesses that are based in Victoria. Other eligibility requirements include:

- Employ between 1 and 200 people

- Have at least 12 months trading history

- Be financially viable (effective trading history and ability to meet debts when they fall due)

The eligibility requirements are obviously set to maximize participation in the program.

Key Numbers on the Uptake of Skills for Growth

As of the end of January 2010, the Skills for Growth program had hit the following milestones:

- 1,648 businesses had registered for the program

- 667 workforce action plans had been signed off on by businesses

- 17,934 training plans for employees had been approved by businesses

- 10,488 approved employee training plans had met eligibility requirements for the Victorian Training Guarantee

Obviously, business uptake of the Skills for Growth program has been strong. Businesses have also been getting strong results from teh Skills for Growth program, which you can read more about on Business Victoria’s website.

If you’ve got a business that’s based in Victoria – and that meets the other eligibility criteria – you can only benefit by at least checking out the Skills for Growth program.

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