Major reforms to the Victorian vocational education and training system, such as the Victorian Training Guarantee, the Victorian Skills Pledge and Skills for Growth: the Workforce Development Program, are making it easier for businesses of all sizes to train staff.

The Victorian Training Guarantee entitles eligible students to government-subsidised training if a business is looking to up-skill its employees through an approved provider. This helps businesses, as large as Ferguson Plarre or as small as any of its franchisees, to get the training they need to improve workforce performance, safety and productivity.

This has been good news for Ferguson Plarre, a family-owned bakery producing baked goods for nearly 50 franchise bakeries across greater Melbourne. “We’re looking for apprentice pastry-cooks now,” says human resources officer Chris Tankard. And while he suspects some young would-be Masterchefs find the 3am start a bit of a deal-breaker, the Victorian Training Guarantee will make pastry-cook apprenticeships more appealing than ever.

Tankard says Ferguson Plarre’s 130 staff members are also enthusiastic about up-skilling; many of them have been with the company for more than 20 years and, in the case of the longest serving pastry-cook, Ken Coote (pictured), 43 years.

Recently Ferguson Plarre moved into new premises, requiring older staff to update their training to master the new state-of-the-art equipment.

Of course, mastering new equipment is as much about staff safety as getting the job done. Consider Ferguson Plarre’s new giant mixers and pie machines… “Staff have to be trained to use these and until they have the training documents they can’t go near them,” Tankard says. The same applies with the Food Handling Certificate. “You cannot put a price on ensuring staff are trained to best practice standards for both safety and food handling,” he adds.

Ferguson Plarre recently signed the Victorian Skills Pledge in acknowledgement of the importance of staff training to the continued success of the business. Taking the Pledge gives businesses a range of marketing opportunities to show potential customers they are dedicated to up-skilling their staff to best-practice standards. It is open to businesses of all sizes in the private, public and community sectors.

Eligible businesses can also take advantage of Skills for Growth: the Workforce Development Program. This program provides businesses with independent business specialists to work with them — at no cost — to identify their strategic business aims and objectives, assess staff skills, and place staff into accredited training.

Skills for Growth is open to all Victorian-based small and medium sized businesses of up to 200 full-time equivalent staff. To be eligible, your business must have been in operation for at least 12 months and be financially viable.

It makes good sense to Tankard to encourage a culture of skills training within an organisation. “Signing the Victorian Skills Pledge shows we’re committed to our employees,” he says. “We want them to be the best they can — that helps us get the best product out each day.”

For more information about changes to the TAFE and training system, including Skills for Growth, the Victorian Training Guarantee and the Victorian Skills Pledge, visit www.skills.vic.gov.au or contact the Victorian Food Industry Training Board on (03) 9621 3349.