News: Performance Management
Print industry launches staff training fund
26 June 2008
Employees in the printing industry are to benefit from a multi-million pound staff training drive intended to attract and retain quality candidates.
Industry body Proskills drew up its Sustainable Workforce Pledge for employers to complement the £62 million funding, which will be used to improve training standards in the sector.
"This is an opportunity for print employers to show publicly and demonstrably the importance they place on investing in the skills of their people," the organisation's Richard Bloxam remarked to PrintWeek.
"It is the first time the industry has ever made such a commitment," he added.
Skills minister John Denham has given his approval to the funding initiative, telling reporters that officials value the "immense contribution" of the printing industry and want to see the sector boost efforts to attract, train and retain quality staff.
In a report compiled by French analysts this month, the UK was revealed to be a European leader in the employee training stakes.
The study, whose results were released last week, compared 1,000 organisations across the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain and indicated that bosses in small and medium-sized UK businesses in particular dedicate substantial attention to training and performance management.
