MEDIA RELEASE - Vodafone New Zealand is the first company to successfully pilot and deploy the Tertiary Education Commission’s Direct Funding Scheme (DFS) designed to encourage companies to give more industry training opportunities to their employees.

Since June this year, Vodafone has supported 255 of its people to gain New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) qualifications in sales, retail, contact centre operations, first line management and project management, through an innovative on the job training programme.

Vodafone’s HR Director Antony Welton says the success of the programme comes down to the way Vodafone has implemented the DFS into its existing business processes.

“The DFS investment has enabled us to translate what our employees are doing in their normal working day into real, valuable New Zealand qualifications. As a result, our people feel empowered and engaged and our company continues to succeed.

“We value what our employees do day to day and we want to harness this in a way that drives efficiency, productivity and the best possible outcome for our customers. This is why the applied learning approach has proven to work – because it aligns with what is relevant and compelling for our people.”

In addition to enhancing efficiencies and empowering its people, Vodafone has been instrumental in assisting the Government to shape an on the job training model for businesses across New Zealand.

“We’ve created best practice methodologies that has changed the way on the job training programmes have been traditionally implemented.

“We have worked in partnership with The Skills Organisation to map existing NZQA qualifications criteria to the achievements our people experience in their roles every day” adds Welton.

The Skills Organisation’s Education Performance and Investment Manager, Manu Palelei, says she is thrilled with Vodafone’s results.

“We are so pleased to be working with Vodafone to deliver this initiative and are delighted with what the pilot has achieved so far. The way they’ve integrated the DFS into their existing learning framework means the process of gaining a qualification is naturally occurring and employees achieve their qualifications faster.”

Vodafone employs approximately 3000 people in New Zealand and expects to have supported approximately 800 employees in achieving NZQA certifications by the end of 2016.