Employed learnerships lay the foundation of a learning culture within the business, says Anton Visser, chief operations officer of Alefbet Learning. This is part two of a two-part series.

… continued from part 1.

Learnership benefits for employers and employees. Image supplied by <a href="https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/african-kid-leaning-class_13106484.htm#query=learning&position=47&from_view=search&track=sph">Freepik</a>

Learnership benefits for employers and employees. Image supplied by Freepik

Learnerships have evolved for a hybrid world of work

One of the challenges with learnerships is the time needed off work for employees to complete the theoretical and lecture-based component of the learnership, while not impacting their productivity.  SA Business School has addressed this challenge by taking its learnership programmes online, revolutionising the way that learnerships are delivered in a rapidly changing organisational training and education environment.  The online learnership is about interactive, online learning in combination with practical work experience.  The big benefit is that companies that have geographically dispersed learners across the country can now bring them together in one online learning platform where they get to interact with their trainers and content, at their own pace. It also means that employees embarking on learnerships don’t compromise their productivity and can better manage their work and study demands. The flexibility and modernisation that this brings to the employed learnership process is ground-breaking in South Africa.

Deploy learnerships as strategic enablers to competitive advantage for your business.

It is time to abandon the tick-box approach to learnerships and skills development, and to invest in them as the strategic enablers they were intended to be to address critical skills shortages, create jobs, progress careers and deliver a competitive advantage for businesses and our economy.

Any efforts to unlock your workforce’s potential starts with it being part and parcel of your business strategy, with a clear plan that outlines the skill sets and knowledge needed to meet business goals and objectives. It is time for learnership programmes to receive the credit that they deserve and for more employers to realise their power and value. Learnerships have been one of the most significant catalysts for long-term employment in South Africa for the past 20 years. The time is long overdue for their seat at the executive boardroom table on how to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage in a world where the skills needed by your people and business are constantly evolving.