If you are a certified tradesperson or employer that employs certified tradespersons or their equivalent please consider the opportunities to becoming a sponsor and signing on an apprentice. A sponsor in most cases is the apprentice’s employer, but can also be a joint union-management training board, industry association or training institute, as long as they meet the eligibility requirements.
Sponsorship is simple and flexible, and its benefits are invaluable:
- Develop highly skilled employees: Apprentices can share up-to-date skills with other staff, which also increases your businesses’ competitiveness.
- Receive tax credits: Federal and BC governments offer financial incentives for employers in eligible apprenticeship programs.
- Improve quality of products and services: Quality not only gives your business a competitive edge, but it can also help you maintain and gain more customers.
- Improve productivity: Trained employees will contribute noticeably to your bottom line.
- Increase employee loyalty: Invest in your employees and they will invest in you.
- Cost effective: With higher productivity and employee loyalty, you can recover much of the cost involved in training new employees.
- Addresses the skills shortage: Apprenticeship can lead to securing the future workforce.
Sponsor’s Eligibility:
There are three basic eligibility requirements for sponsors of apprentices:
- A sponsor must be a legal entity (e.g., a company or organization), and have an individual who is a certified tradesperson or equivalent supervise the apprentice’s on the job training.
- A sponsor must be registered, or become registered, with the Industry Training Authority (ITA).
- A sponsor must be willing to assume certain responsibilities.
