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 By Dawson BarberOptimize My Workforce 
 
Skills for Growth – An Essential Guide to theVictorian Government’s Strategic Planningand Workforce Development Initiative forSmall and Medium Business
 
 
Page 2Copyright 2010 Dawson BarberAll Rights Reserved
Introduction to Skills for Growth
Skills for Growth is a strategic planning and workforce development program run by theGovernment of Victoria that provides small and medium businesses in the State of Victoria withfree access to skilled business consultants and to employee training opportunities. The goal ofthe program is to help small and medium business owners achieve greater levels of near-termand long-term success by mapping out their business’ key goals and priorities and evaluating – and closing – capability gaps in their workforce.Key benefits that the Skills for Growth program is meant to create for participating businessesinclude:
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Superior business performance and productivity
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Increased workforce efficiency and effectiveness
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Enhanced capacity for innovation
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Expanded range of employee capabilities
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Reduced overall costs
All of which, of course, lead to the realization of the ultimate benefit for businesses:improved profits.
Skills for Growth Background
The Victorian Government committed $52 million in funding to the Skills for Growth program inrecognition of the fact that small and medium businesses play such a pivotal role in Victoria’seconomy. In fact, small and medium businesses make up more than ninety-nine percent of allbusinesses in Victoria and employ nearly one million people.The program was launched in April of 2009 and has 25 Service Providers – who were appointedafter an exhaustive and lengthyreview process – across the State of Victoria that are approvedto provide – in partnership withworkforce planning and trainingSpecialists – accredited trainingservices to businesses that participate in the program.
Skills for Growth Structure
After a business registers with the Skills for Growthprogram (which can be done by visiting thewebsite at www.business.vic.gov.au/skillsforgrowth) and selects a Service Provider that best suits its needs, the Service Provider assigns an independent workforce planning and trainingSpecialist who contacts the business owner and arranges for an on-site visit.Workforce planning and training Specialists are required to have completed a Training andAssessment (TAA) course as well as well as an accredited course on Assess Informal Learning(AIL). Completion of a number of key units from Certificate IV is a prerequisite for AIL.The program basically unfolds in two phases.
Phase 1
The first phase of the program involves a workforce planning and training Specialistcarrying out a business review that leads to the development of a workforcedevelopment plan. The workforce development plan identifies, among other things,opportunities for upskilling and recommendations for training.Following are the steps to the first phase of the Skills for Growth program:
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Completion of a high-level business analysis that looks at, among other things,the strategic direction of the business
 
Page 3Copyright 2010 Dawson BarberAll Rights Reserved
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Assessment of the skills and training needs of employees as they relate to thebusiness’ strategic direction
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Development of a Workforce Training and Action Plan that identifies businessand employee skills needs and that recommends referrals to relevant trainingprograms and learning opportunitiesThere are no costs associated with participating in the first phase.
Phase 2
The second phase of the program unfolds only if the business owner or managerchooses to proceed with the training recommendations (which are accompanied by threequotes).Following are the steps to the second phase of the Skills for Growth program:
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Facilitation of staff placement into training with an accredited trainingorganisation
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Completion of a follow-up review after staff have completed training – or haveundergone at least three months of training – and of a Skills for Growth reportwhich must be reviewed and approved by the business (any employees hired bythe business after the initial review receive individual training plans)Phase two must be funded by the participating businesses, whose staff may be eligiblefor the Victorian Training Guarantee, which offers substantial subsidies for placements inrecognised vocational training courses. Eligibility is determined by a number of differentfactors – including: age, educational background, citizenship, and residency status.The Skills for Growth program typically takes four weeks to complete, with the follow-up reviewgenerally completed after six months.
Skills for Growth Eligibility
The Skills for Growth program is open to all small and medium sized businesses that are basedin Victoria. In order to qualify, a business must::
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Employ between 1 to 200 staff
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Have been in operation for at least 12 months
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Be financially viable (effective trading history and ability to meet debts when they falldue)Clearly, the standards are set to encourage as many Victorian businesses to participate in theprogram as possible.
Key Statistics on the Skills for Growth Program
As of the end of January 2010, the Skills for Growth program had hit the following milestones:
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1,648 businesses had registered for the Skills for Growth program
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667 workforce action plans had been approved by businesses
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17,934 employee training plans had been approved by businesses
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10,488 approved training plans were eligible for the Victorian Training GuaranteeClearly uptake of the Skills for Growth program by Victorian businesses has been strong. So,too, have the results that many businesses have seen from their participation in the program,which you can read about in the case studies published on the Business Victoriawebsite.
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