Harnessing Awards and Skills Funding to Boost Talent Retention in FY25

As the new financial year (FY25) looms on the horizon, businesses across Australia are grappling with the challenges of major layoffs, sparking discussions around employee engagement and talent retention for employees with roles that are retained. In the face of uncertainty, ensuring top talent retention becomes paramount for sustained growth and success. 

Leveraging Awards for Talent Retention and Engagement

Awards can serve as a powerful marketing tool for brand growth while engaging your people. Employee recognition is essential for cultivating a positive and empowering working environment for the organisation. Brand image plays a pivotal role in shaping business growth, but many businesses fail to tap into the business awards on offer that support a positive brand image. Leveraging awards for talent retention and engagement can help organisations and employees in many ways: 

• Enhanced Visibility, Credibility, and Validation: Awards contribute to lifting the profile of your brand. They also validate your employee’s hard work and devotion. This raises their pride in their achievements and in the organisation, which results in high loyalty and commitment. Being an award-winning brand can successfully attract future talent whilst retaining top talent through achievement and recognition.

• Fostering Consumer Trust and Loyalty: Consumers are naturally drawn to organisations that have been recognised as outstanding by industry experts. Winning awards not only verifies a brand’s excellence but also increases employee’s trust, creating long-term loyalty. The positive work environment this creates boosts morale, resulting in more productivity, and better customer service. Both employee and customer trust and loyalty are then enhanced. Ultimately, investing in employees not only benefits staff satisfaction but also nurtures enduring relationships with customers.

• Networking and Collaboration Opportunities: The act of nominating employees for awards is a way to show thanks and rewards achievement within teams. For instance, prestigious awards like the NSW Business Awards often feature categories like “Outstanding Employee,” providing a platform to showcase gratitude and reward success. This not only increases morale but also cements a culture of excellence in the organisation. 

Being involved in such award programs offers opportunities for networking and collaboration. It attracts prospective staff members, investors, and strategic partners interested in businesses with proven success records and recognition.

Investing in employee recognition through awards attracts potential workers, investors, and strategic partners. Being connected with an award-winning brand boosts employer branding efforts by recruiting top personnel who want to be a part of a successful and distinguished organisation.

FundFindrs has the insights to create outstanding submissions for a variety of business awards. Winning awards can inspire employees, improve credibility, and enhance marketing. Learn more in our guide: Your 2024 Roadmap of Business Awards.

Finding the Right Skills Funding for Your FY25 Retention Strategies

Whilst awarding the talents of your workforce today is beneficial, so too is leveraging funding to continue their career development. Our business funding experts can guide you to unlock the right skills funding:

• Apprenticeship Wage Subsidies and Hiring Incentives: These are offered to Australian businesses to assist in hiring, training, and retaining employees. The Australian Apprenticeships Incentive System seeks to address talent shortages in industries that require it the most.

Benefits:

Offsetting Salary Costs: Businesses can reduce the financial burden of training and hiring new talent by providing subsidies to apprentices in priority occupations, thereby making it feasible to invest in employee development.

Incentives for Diverse Roles: Hire incentives are provided for other positions (beyond priority occupations) to let businesses have the flexibility to upskill talent across different roles within an organisation.

Employee Development Focus:

Organisations show deep commitment to their employee’s growth and development plans. This commitment not only boosts employee morale but also significantly increases retention rates. Employees are more likely to stay with a organisation that prioritises their professional growth and leadership.

• Skills Solutions Partnerships: serves as a platform for collaboration with government, businesses, TAFE’s, and dual-sector universities to develop and pilot innovative short-term training techniques. This program is designed to encourage collaboration between industry and education providers. QLD and NSW offer this program. NSW Fee-Free Training offers fully subsidised training to gain skills in growing Australian industries. The QLD Fee-Free TAFE allows eligible Queenslanders to learn prerequisite skills and qualifications.

Benefits:

• Access to financial resources and expertise. 
• Businesses connect with potential employees who have the skills and qualifications
• Focus on in-demand skills, like digital technology, healthcare, and manufacturing. 

 

 

Maximising the Benefits of Skills Funding

Traineeships, apprenticeships and skills funding programs can support your organisation’s employee retention strategies and are crucial in developing skills and business IP. Our team can support you to unlock the following benefits:- 

• Employees Feel Valued: Helps employees build confidence, and self-worth in their role. We all know that in this competitive environment, people will always appreciate places where they are valued. 

• Improved Employee Skills: Improving skills to advance employee careers is the best possible way to attract and retain employees. These improvements will positively affect the productivity of employees, which leads to increased profit and efficiency in an organisation.

• Addresses Employee’s Weaknesses: There is always something to improve on or upskill in. Utilise business funding to facilitate the development of necessary abilities. Strong training programs can develop abilities that all employees need to strengthen, bridge skills gaps in organisations, and maximise overall productivity.

FundFindrs unlocks awards, traineeships, and funding to propel your business’s growth. Our tailored services target your specific business needs,opening doors for skills training and development. Book your free 30-minute starter chat with us!