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TRUDY MORRIS: Recruitment solutions can help keep up with pace of change


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Chamber Comment by Trudy Morris

Apprenticeships and CPD are just two ways of gearing up the workforce for the future.
Apprenticeships and CPD are just two ways of gearing up the workforce for the future.

One of the most pressing issues facing businesses not just across the north Highlands, but across Scotland and the wider UK, is that of access to the skills and labour they need.

Depending on who you ask, there are a range of reasons for this, from a post-Covid re-evaluation of priorities amongst the workforce, to the impacts of Brexit on particular sectors.

This is an issue of critical importance to the chamber and its members, and in the short term the chamber board has convened a working group to look at immediate solutions. In the longer term, however, it is clear that if we are to take advantage of the range of new opportunities coming to the region, businesses in the north Highlands are going to need to grow their own skills base.

A major part of this picture is apprenticeships, and I have been delighted of late to see two successful applications to the Caithness Business Fund for support to take on apprentices, from two businesses in very different sectors.

Navertech, a Thurso-based web design, IT and digital marketing company, received support from the fund to take on a modern apprentice in business administration, helping them expand their business in new directions and manage their recent successful takeover of Naver Business Centre.

From modernity to a more traditional sector, Messrs T Sinclair of Reaster Farm near Lyth were also successful in their application to support a modern apprentice in agriculture and mixed farming. In the short term, this will help the business expand its operations and increase its pedigree herd, while in the longer term enabling the current owner of the business to hand over operations to his son and enjoy a hard-earned retirement.

Both cases offer a fantastic example of the added value that an apprenticeship can bring to a business, and show one potential route forward for businesses which are struggling to recruit the skills they need from the existing labour market.

Apprenticeships, of course, are not the whole picture. With the pace of technological and social change – something which we can only expect to see accelerate over the coming decades as the net zero agenda ramps up – businesses need to look closely to their existing workforce to ensure that they have the skills they need for the future.

Lifelong learning and CPD are no longer just nice to have, but increasingly essentials for any business which wants to stay afloat over the long term. There are a range of ways that businesses can support their employees in this, from delivery of in-work learning, external vocational qualifications, to enabling their employees to undertake larger, more traditional qualifications like degree or Masters programmes.

In many cases these are areas where support is available, either from agencies such as Skills Development Scotland or through local mechanisms such as the Caithness Business Fund. The chamber would be glad to hear from any business which is looking to take on new staff or develop its existing workforce to see how we can help.

It is clear that the issue of access to labour and skills is not one which is going to be solved immediately, but the chamber is working closely with partners across the region to ensure that the voice of business is heard as long-term solutions are developed.

Trudy Morris, chief executive, Caithness Chamber of Commerce.
Trudy Morris, chief executive, Caithness Chamber of Commerce.
  • Trudy Morris is chief executive of Caithness Chamber of Commerce.

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