C. EMPLOYER ATTITUDES TOWARD APPRENTICESHIP

Many employers are unaware of the value of apprenticeship, and ascribe little importance to apprenticeship as a means of meeting skill needs. This attitude means that apprentices often face problems in finding employers willing to make an apprenticeship commitment.

Many employers and labour representatives pointed to employer attitudes to apprenticeship as a major and fundamental barrier, which resulted, in many sectors and regions, in an absence of positions for apprentices, and relatively low support for the use of this training mechanism. In turn, these employer attitudes could be linked directly to basic awareness issues (Starr Group, 2002), including:

A lack of information on the potential value of apprenticeship to meet employers’ skill needs
(ITAC, 2001; ), sometimes expressed as “What’s in it for me?” A perception exists among some employers that apprentices may increase overall costs and reduce productivity, or that the overall quality of work may suffer (Fayek et al., 2002).

A lack of employer understanding of their roles and responsibilities as part of an apprenticeship contract.

A lack of practical information on apprenticeship regulations and procedures on how to establish an apprenticeship, or on local resourcesavailable to support this process (MacCulloch et al, 2002).

Some employers resist formally engaging apprentices for fear of losing staffing flexibility ().

A bias toward academic credentials and a lack of value for the trades (Kaminura et al, 1998, ).

At the same time, some employers felt that there is perhaps an overemphasis on training—including apprenticeships—at the expense of other organizational strategies to increase employee flexibility, resulting in training programs that are too long or too complex (). One difficulty associated with apprenticeship is making the proper human-resource diagnosis and acknowledging that training is not the answer to all workplace issues. Some managers may not have a realistic assessment of what training, including apprenticeship, can and cannot do ().