When the work employees do every day is recognised by a qualification, everybody benefits
Many New Zealand companies have a robust training or coaching culture, but how many offer their employees a qualification that recognises the work they do day-to-day?
QualMatch gives companies the opportunity to align their in-house training with an New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) qualification, delivering significant benefits for employers and learners alike.
Improved recruitment and increased retention, are just two of the ways a company can enhance their employment brand. A workplace based qualification can also encourage career progression, succession planning, and performance development and management – building capability across a business.
There’s also the feel-good factor. The pride and accomplishment an individual experiences when they achieve this recognition – some of whom don’t have a formal qualification. It also makes people feel valued, increases self worth, and enhances their wellbeing – not to mention improving organisational health.
Benchmarking training
Skills Consulting Group has been helping companies benchmark their in-house training to national qualifications for many years. Formerly called ‘alignment,’ the newly renamed QualMatch product, offers a robust assessment model that aligns workplace roles and tasks to an NZQA qualification.
While the majority of companies adopt QualMatch with the goal of helping employees gain a national qualification, others used it as a benchmarking tool, to see how their own training stacks up against the national standard.
Workplaces with robust training or coaching cultures and strong induction programmes and practices, offering training and assessment over a period of time, find it easiest to complete the QualMatch development process.
A strong training and coaching culture shows there’s a system in place to manage performance and, as a result, QualMatch development typically takes six to eight weeks. Other companies take a bit longer, with a gap analysis identifying the areas they need to work on.
Once an organisation completes the development of assessments, and the reports and materials are reviewed by an pre-assessment and external moderation process, QualMatch development is finished.
Supporting learners
The time taken for a learner to gain a NZQC qualification while they work is dependent on the nature of the company’s training programme. The type of qualifications they can gain also varies, depending on the sector and industry.
A further advantage of the QualMatch assessment model is that it suits all learner types and doesn’t discriminate against people with learning disabilities. And because it recognises the work employees are already doing on a daily basis, there isn’t a lot of additional work for learners.
Enhancing culture
QualMatch has successfully assisted companies in the security, contact centre and financial services sectors deliver national qualifications. And Skills Consulting Group is now bringing QualMatch to New Zealand businesses outside their traditional industry training organisation (ITO) sectors.
Once an employee has completed their assessments to the required level, Skills Consulting Group awards the relevant NZQA qualification. Many companies choose to celebrate this with a graduation or awards ceremony. Something that enhances their culture and delivers positive outcomes for both the employee and the company.
Author: Grace Waymouth, Assessment Solutions Advisor