March 4, 2013 – The Canadian Apprenticeship Forum (CAF) announced a new project to investigate the participation rates and ROI for employers who invest in Essential Skills training, and is seeking Working Group members who will provide expertise and guidance on project activities.

According to CAF, the HR challenges in industry include:

• Skills shortages, high turnover and low productivity.
• Essential Skills weaknesses in workers as identified by employers.
• Skepticism and uncertainty about the value of Essential Skills training.
• Lack of substantive data to draw upon.
• Low participation in training in comparison to other countries.

CAF believes this study, which will be based on a survey, will potentially help industry to:

• Understand current rates of participation in Essential Skills training among employers who train journeypersons.
• Build the business case for training in the skilled trades environment.
• Improve policy decision-making on workplace training based on the actual experiences of skilled trades employers across Canada.
• Inform future training strategies that impact industry’s ability to sustain itself and remain competitive.

Employers who train journeypersons will be asked to participate in the survey; they can complete the survey via telephone, paper or online. The aim is to gather information from a statistically significant number of employers across trades, and across the country. The sample size will be derived based on the number of employers who train journeypersons and offer Essential Skills training.

To learn more about the project, contact the project manager:

Emily Arrowsmith
emily_arrowsmith@caf-fca.org
(613) 235-4004 ext. 201