A skilled and appropriately trained workforce is essential to organisational performance. Consequently, it is in the interests of organisations to ensure that employees have opportunities for training and development. Such opportunities will aid recruitment, retention and succession planning.
It is also in your interest to ensure that your skills and knowledge are as current and up to date as possible. This will not only help you to perform your job better, but will also increase your employability during uncertain times.
In recent years, government has promoted the notion of lifelong learning: individuals are encouraged to accept that learning does not stop when we leave formal education, but actually continues throughout life. Since April 2009, individuals working in organisations with 250 employees or more have had the statutory right to request time off for study or training. Employees in sufficiently large organisations are eligible to make a request if they have worked for the employer continuously for 6 months and are over 18 (16-18 year olds have a seperate right to time off for study or training).
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