What is the Importance of the Workplace Skills Plan & The Annual Training Report?
Skills development is one of the cornerstones of South Africa’s economic development, and as any businessperson knows, businesses are far more productive and run more smoothly when all employees are properly trained to fulfil their roles. Proper training improves organisational morale, efficiency, and organisation. In addition to this, there’s a definite BBBEE benefit to ensuring that your employees experience great skills development while they’re with your company. The Workplace Skills Plan and the Annual Training Report are important elements of any company’s skills development strategy, and in this blog, we’ll look into exactly why that is.
What is a Workplace Skills Plan?
A workplace skills plan, or WSP, is the strategy that a business adopts to make itself more efficient and productive. A WSP systematically lays out the skills requirements of the business, and proposes ways of fulfilling those requirements. Workplace Skills Plans are mandatory for all businesses with more than fifty employees, and must be drawn up by a registered Skills Development Facilitator. To draw up a WSP, the Skills Development Facilitator should first conduct a skills audit to determine what skills the company’s employees already have, which ones they are
To draw up a WSP, the Skills Development Facilitator should first conduct a skills audit to determine what skills the company’s employees already have, which ones they are missing, and which ones they will need in the future to keep up with the company’s requirements (for example, if new technology is going to be introduced). The WSP should also include estimates of whether training will be done in-house or out-of-house, how many employees will need each kind of training, and what such training will cost.
All Workplace Skills Plans must be submitted to the relevant industry Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) by the deadline. Workplace Skills Plans must be submitted by 30 April 2020.
What is an Annual Training Report?
An Annual Training Report, or ATR, is a document that is submitted alongside the WSP. The ATR should describe the progress that the company has made in accordance with plans laid out in the previous year’s WSP. It should include information such as the progress of each training programme, the number of employees trained, a list of programmes completed, and the amount spent on each training initiative. It should be accompanied by supporting documentation such as invoices, attendance registers, and completion certificates.
Why are WSPs and ATRs important?
Apart from being excellent ways to keep track of your company’s skills programmes and employee development, the WSP and ATR are also important for BBBEE compliance, and make your company eligible for Skills Development levy rebates, learnership tax incentives, and various skills-development-related grants.
Are WSPs and ATRs compulsory?
Technically, Workplace Skills Plans and Annual Training Reports are not compulsory, but it is in fact detrimental to your company not to complete a WSP and an ATR. This is because skills planning is a one of the pillars of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment — Skills Development is a priority element of the BBBEE Scorecard, and poor skills development performance might very well cause a company to drop a BBBEE level or become BBBEE non-compliant.
For help developing a WSP or ATR for your company, and for guidance on SETA-accredited training programmes, contact Chamlabour (010) 040 8333 marketing@chamlabour.co.za.