Rachel Moore, an apprenticeship partner at Bupa Dental Care, advises on how managers can support their apprentices in a changing world.
For those looking to advance their career or learn new skills, an apprenticeship can be a great way for people to invest in their futures.
But taking on something new can come with challenges. Whether adapting to new routines, meeting new people, or taking on a new role, change can be hard.
And with additional factors such as rising living costs and mental health pressures at play, employers need to be mindful of the impact on their apprentices and give appropriate support.
Listen to your apprentices
Taking the time to check in with your apprentice, particularly when they first start, can go a long way to fostering good well-being. An open-door approach can help apprentices to feel psychologically safe approaching you with any needs or concerns, whether that’s about their learning or something in their personal life.
Regular appraisals or one-to-one sessions give you and your apprentice the chance to speak freely, helping you to gauge how your apprentice is doing and make any adjustments that they may need. As well as listening to them, these check-ins offer the chance to provide constructive feedback, too.
And it may seem like a small thing, but I always find that a simple ‘thank you’ or ‘well done’ goes a long way to boosting an apprentice’s self-esteem. Feeling properly rewarded for their efforts and how they’re positively impacting the team around them can help boost mental well-being and decrease stress.
Create supportive networks
When going through a big life change, it’s helpful to chat with people going through similar challenges. This is especially important in a busy dental practice when employees potentially have less chance to talk about any worry or unease. So think about ways to help apprentices bond and collaborate with others – for example, having a practice buddy in addition to their practice mentor, will help to connect new starters with those that surround them who have more experience. By ensuring learners are available to attend every webinar and support session with their training provider, helps them to keep on track with learning and removes any additional stresses that falling behind can induce. Encourage them to join groups or forums, which will give them an opportunity to connect with others in the wider business on the same learning programme.
Employees who feel that their organisation takes an active interest in their well-being are more likely to stay motivated, engaged, and loyal.
Adapt and flex
It’s no secret that many people are finding things more expensive at the moment. Although apprentices are investing in their futures long term, they may be facing the additional cost of living pressures in the short term, which could impact their learning or ability to complete the programme.
It’s important to be mindful of these challenges and think about how your organisation can adapt to help. For example, by signposting to government schemes that apprentices might be entitled to or adapting working practices. It may be possible to lend office equipment to apprentices or to provide free or subsidised food and drink. Make sure your apprentices know about the support your company can offer and how to access it.
Help with switching off
Juggling learning and work along with family life and other pressures can be really difficult, particularly when adapting to a new routine at the same time. Therefore, it’s really important to help your apprentices find a good work/life balance, including time to relax and recharge.
Try to instil good time management skills by working with your apprentice to plan how they’ll manage their time between learning and on-the-job tasks.
Finding the time to switch off from our busy lives – including social media – is really important to protect against things like burnout, anxiety and stress.
Provide mental health support
Providing support to your apprentices to help them maintain good physical and mental health has never been more important.
Fostering a workplace culture where everyone feels open about their health is a great start, and helps support happy, healthy employees who will want to stick around long-term.
Bupa encourages people to bring their full selves to work, and I believe this is one of the key reasons that Bupa’s apprentice retention rates are so high: 80 per cent of its apprentices continue to work at Bupa after their apprenticeship ends.
You can also support your apprentice by ensuring that they’ve got access to employee well-being services, like Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs), GP appointments or health assessments.
Increase motivation
Motivation is an essential factor in improving employee satisfaction and productivity, so it’s important to recognise great work and inspire future thinking.
Discussing future career progression opportunities is a good way to inspire employees to broaden their horizons, aim high and dream big, as the career pathways when they complete their apprenticeship are endless. For example, apprentices at Bupa Dental Care have progressed to lead nurses, practice managers and resourcing business partners – which is a testament to the vast array of the career pathways available.
A partnership approach with training providers
Considering all of the above, inducting your training providers to your approach and ways of working is essential to sustaining a supportive culture for learners to thrive. By viewing them as an extension of your organisation’s team, you can ensure consistent messaging and high-quality service provision to each learner.
To search and apply, visit https://careers.bupadentalcare.co.uk/jobs/