Australia’s small businesses have backed a Productivity Commission recommendation to introduce targeted financial incentives to increase work-related training across the sector.
Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBOA) Chair Matthew Addison said the call to introduce advisory services to support training uptake was also welcome.
Mr Addison said as the nation’s largest employer, small business played a pivotal role in training, upskilling and reskilling the workforce, with incentives aimed at lowering the financial barriers to employee education, a key enabler to growth.
“Small businesses want to invest in training that enhances their operations and offering, empowers their employees and accelerates adoption of new technologies,” he said.
“While small businesses offer non-formal learning opportunities every day, formalised training can be expensive and time consuming, and for small businesses that can be very hard to absorb.”
Mr Addison said targeted, incentivised work-related training would not only allow employers to offer the right education opportunities to staff, it would also support innovation, increase specialised skills and improve small business service offerings.
“We’re also glad the PC has hosed down union suggestions of a return to training levies, which were scrapped in 1996, by highlighting the significant administrative and cost burden such levies place on small business.”
