The Growing Importance of Apprenticeships to Support Socio-Economic Diversity in Financial Services
The importance of talent and skills development strategies in Financial Services organisations cannot be overstated, with the right initiatives having an untold impact on the career development of individuals from all socio-economic backgrounds. In this article, I’ll be exploring the impact that skills and training initiatives, specifically mid-career professional apprenticeships, can have on:
- Removing the barriers of educational privilege in career development
- Retaining and developing top talent from lower socio-economic backgrounds
- Supporting social mobility at all stages of careers
We’ve seen an accelerated trend of growth in initiatives such as data and digital literacy programmes, leadership development pathways, technical reskilling, and skills-share secondments like the Progress Together APP (Accelerated Progress Programme). These skills pathways are becoming increasingly crucial for, not only the culture and fabric of Financial Services, but ensuring access to career development opportunities of all employees, regardless of socio-economic, cultural or educational background.
Skills shortages are becoming more widespread and are hampering not only individuals looking to advance their careers, but the growth of Financial Services organisations. A PwC report found that 54% of Financial Services CEOs cited skills shortages, particularly in digital and soft skills, as a barrier to innovation, with these skills deemed crucial for the sector’s future success by the Financial Services Skills Commission.
So why are Apprenticeships so important?
Firstly – understanding what we mean by apprenticeships, and specifically mid-career apprenticeships, is key.
Apprenticeships are not just for Early Careers or junior colleagues to learn the skills they need as they start their careers in Financial Services. In 2024, apprenticeships are also relevant for high-impact mid-career skills development. Apprenticeships are a valuable mechanism to upskill the workforce in digital literacy, technical mastery, and leadership skills to create well-rounded senior leaders, that are future-fit and growth-minded.
According to the Financial Services Skills Commission’s latest report, 89% of employers stated that apprenticeships helped their business improve the quality of their products or services. Furthermore, according to Corndel and Opinium’s research, 77% of employers believe that apprenticeships make them more competitive in their industry.
Removing the barriers of educational privilege in career development
Contrary to common understanding, and wide-spread misconceptions, apprenticeships play a significant role in mid-career development, especially for individuals who have not had the same educational privileges as those who are university educated or attended private schools.
Modern, mid-career apprenticeship programmes utilise the Government Apprenticeship Levy scheme to provide fully-funded training opportunities for employees to gain valuable new skills required to remain competitive in the Financial Services jobs market and advance their careers without the need for any advanced formal educational background.
An example of this would be the Imperial College Business School & Corndel Level 7 Executive Development programme (a Masters-level equivalent qualification). This high impact programme has been curated specifically for experienced managers to accelerate their career development by gaining the modern leadership skills and the strategic business acumen, whilst also provide high-quality Executive coaching and mentoring to support individuals to find their voice and reach their full potential.
Unlike an MBA or MSc, there are no prior learning, qualification, or educational pre-requisites to be eligible, only that individuals can exercise the skills they are learning whilst working in their current role. As a result, professional mid-career apprenticeships provide an ideal career accelerator for individuals from lower socio-economic backgrounds – who may not have had the privilege of a university-level educational background or may be regularly over-looked for strategic leadership development and promotions – to advance their careers.
Retaining top talent from lower socio-economic backgrounds
A study by Corndel and Opinium found that 61% of individuals who have completed an apprenticeship programme were more committed to their business or role. This clearly highlights the importance of not only providing accessible and inclusive development opportunities for all employees, but the positive impact that modern mid-career apprenticeships can have on employee retention, employer brand and organisational culture.
A host of Large Financial Services organisations and ~40% of the FTSE100, who partner with Corndel, view apprenticeships as critically important for mid-career development, providing opportunities for individuals – regardless of background – to gain new skills and advance their careers without the need for formal education.
Apprenticeships are providing a platform for Financial Services organisations to create a more diverse and equitable learning environment – ultimately leading to better business outcomes and increased innovation – and supporting employees from a wider range of socio-economic backgrounds to take control of their careers through high-quality, fully funded, and accessible development opportunities.
Supporting social mobility at all stages of careers
Providing opportunities for social mobility at all stages of individuals’ careers is a critical element in creating a more inclusive and equitable workforce. Research by the Social Mobility Commission found that employees from lower socio-economic backgrounds perform at least as well as their more advantaged colleagues, and often outperform them. However, Progress Together’s research shows that white males from higher socio-economic backgrounds are 33x more likely to be in senior positions than Ethnic minority women from lower socio-economic backgrounds. So, something is clearly amiss.
Supporting social mobility is all about creating professional and personal pathways for those from disadvantaged backgrounds so they can fulfil their potential. If we want to increase opportunities accessible to all, we need to get more people from a breadth of socio-economic backgrounds into the workplace and on a sustainable and equitable career trajectory that leads to the senior leadership.
This is where talent and skills development programmes, like apprenticeships, play a crucial role.
