Business West’s Skills West team is running a series of business skills workshops in Bath throughout autumn covering topics ranging from recruitment and flexible working to apprenticeships for small and medium-sized businesses and developing the workforce.
The workshops are free and open to businesses from any sector or industry. 
Title: How to find the hidden talent in your Business
Date/time: November 22. 7:45am-10am
Venue: Bath Innovation Centre, Carpenter House, Broad Quay, Bath BA1 1UD
The results of our 2017 Business Skills and Training Survey showed that 68.5% of businesses blamed vacancies being hard to fill on not having enough applicants with the relevant skills and qualifications, and 55.8% said a skills shortage in their business led to an increase in work for other staff. As an SME, what if you could build talent through your existing workforce – wouldn’t that make more sense? This workshop shows how you can utilise your best asset – your people; developing an internal resource, ensuring business continuity and fostering positive engagement as a result.
Title: Apprenticeships for SMEs – The Basics
Date/time: December 6. 7.45am-10am
Venue: Bath Innovation Centre, Carpenter House, Broad Quay, Bath BA1 1UD
According to our 2017 Business Skills and Training Survey, 64.9% of businesses have never used an apprentice and over 50% claim they have no knowledge of the apprenticeship levy. Businesses are just not aware of the benefits that hiring an apprentice can bring, how developing existing valued staff through apprenticeships improves retention, skills and morale and how they can be effective for SMEs as well as larger employers. Many feel apprenticeships aren’t relevant for their businesses and are unaware of the funding opportunities available, as well as not knowing
