Scottish Employer Perspectives Survey: 2019

People development

EPS questions on ‘people development’ include employer approaches to training and their engagement with and views on vocational qualifications. 

Training levels

70% of employers provided training to their staff in the preceding year.

This represents a decrease from 2016 when 73% of employers provided training in the preceding year.

The vast majority of employers with 25 or more employees offer training to staff, compared to around half of employers with 2 to 4 employees. 

As shown in Figure 10, ‘Public Administration’ is the sector with the largest proportion of establishments offering training to staff (95%); ‘Construction’ is the sector with the smallest proportion of establishments offering training to staff (52%).

More employers offer internal training (60%) than external training (49%) whilst 39% of employers provide both. Employers that provide training predominantly use private training providers (65%), with 19% using public providers (e.g. colleges and universities).

29% of employers experienced a skills or training issue in the last 12 months that required external information, advice or practical help. Of these, 76% sought or received such advice.

Figure 10: Training provision by sector, 2019

Base population: 2,652

Vocational qualifications

31% of employers have arranged or funded training designed to lead to a recognised vocational qualification in the last 12 months.

This is an increase from 2016 when 26% of employers arranged or funded training designed to lead to a recognised vocational qualifications.

Among those who provide any form of training, 44% of employers provide some type of recognised vocational qualification.

44% of employers who provide training towards vocational qualifications are involved in the design of the delivery and / or content of the course. Of those who are not involved in the design of vocational qualifications, 18% said they would like to be.

Employers who arrange or fund training towards vocational qualifications have a positive view about the impact on their business: 85% agree or strongly agree that they lead to better business performance; and 84% agree or strongly agree that they can easily be adapted to business needs.

As shown in Figure 11, employers who do not arrange or fund training designed to lead to vocational qualifications most commonly cite reasons relating to the supply of qualifications (48% of all employers gave at least one supply reason). The most common single reasons given are that employers do not know enough about what qualifications are available (31%) and that their staff do not want vocational qualifications (28%).

Figure 11: Reasons for not arranging or funding vocational qualifications

Base population: 1,066