The Importance of HR

Every company has their employees, and HR professionals play an integral role in managing workers and upholding workplace culture. HR employees are responsible for a large range of tasks including recruiting new hires, maintaining benefits and payroll, mediating conflict and managing training and development. Effective HR management can create an inclusive and healthy working environment, and happy employees can lead to higher productivity and an increase in worker retention.

57% of businesses who invest in apprentices report that a high proportion later go into management positions within the same company. This means that apprentices are likely to remain working for the company they completed their programme with, saving them on training costs and valuable time recruiting an outside hire.

The HR Support Apprenticeship

Hiring an HR Support Apprentice will provide support to the HR department of any business, and will also teach the apprentice valuable skills relating to their HR role. HR Support Apprentices will help your business by:

• Handling day to day queries from employees and providing HR advice;
• Working on a range of HR processes such as recruitment, hiring, training, performance management and employee retention;
• Keeping employee records using HR systems;
• Providing relevant HR information to the business;
• Providing advice to managers on a large range of HR issues in regards to company policy and current law, and giving guidance to prevent employment tribunals or legal risk to the business.

An HR Support apprenticeship will typically last for 18 – 24 months. Apprentices will develop vital skills through:

• Delivering excellent customer service on a range of HR queries;
• Developing communication and interpersonal skills through dealing with customers and colleagues;
• Building strong work relationships and developing teamwork skills;
• Developing problem-solving skills through actively listening and understanding the root causes of any problems before providing HR solutions.

The End-Point Assessment

The End-Point Assessment for an HR Support apprenticeship includes two components which are equally-weighted. These components are:

• The Consultative Project
• The Professional Discussion

The apprentice must pass each component in order to pass the apprenticeship. Here’s a table with further information about the weighting and pass marks:

Assessment Method	Weighting	Pass Mark	Distinction Mark
Consultative Project	50%	60-84 marks	85-100 marks
Professional Discussion	50%	60-84 marks	85-100 marks

The Consultative Project

The Consultative Project is a 3000-word document that outlines how the apprentice has applied their knowledge and HR related skills on the job. The Project should describe a situation where the apprentice has successfully worked with a customer to deliver a specific piece(s) of HR advice or provide an HR solution(s) for them.

The content of this document should include:

• The project objectives;
• The scope of the work;
• A description of the situation/problem/business need;
• The methodology used;
• The information gathered;
• Any conclusions and recommendations;
• Details of the implementation plan.

Examples of the Project might be:

• Providing guidance to a manager or a team on a range of HR matters, including recruitment, retirement and more;
• Taking a defined role in a larger project run by more senior members of the HR team;
• Carrying out analysis of HR information and producing recommendations for action.

The Professional Discussion

The Professional Discussion is conducted after the TQUK End-Point Assessor has reviewed and marked the Consultative Project. It focuses on testing the skills and behaviours outlined in the Standard, along with any knowledge and skills components that weren’t covered in the Consultative Project.

To ensure consistency, TQUK EPA will provide a bank of standard questions that the TQUK End-Point Assessor will use in the Professional Discussion. There will be 13-16 questions asked during the Discussion, each of which will focus on a single component of the knowledge, skills or behaviours listed in Appendix 1 of the End-Point Assessment plan. The Professional Discussion should last between 60 – 75 minutes.

After the Apprenticeship

Once the apprentice has completed their apprenticeship, they can choose to develop into more advanced roles such as:

• HR Consultant/Partner;
• HR Manager;
• Employee Relations Manager;
• Training and Development Manager.

We hope this blog gave you some more insight into the HR Support Apprenticeship! TQUK EPA is dedicated to delivering quality assessments at a competitive price to ensure that employers receive confident, skilled workers at the end of their apprenticeship. When you work with TQUK EPA, everyone wins!

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