When taking on an apprentice or trainee employers are agreeing to help train them in the skills they need to become qualified. This means they need to show these employees how to perform tasks to the standard needed, and to guide them to achieve that standard.
Not everyone will be a good supervisor of apprentices and trainees. When considering who should take on the role as supervisor it's important to remember that they will need to:
- Have patience to train an inexperienced and probably a young person
- Will need to be able to explain tasks, probably more than once
- Will need to be readily available to demonstrate and observe the apprentice’s performance.
Sometimes apprentices and trainees may encounter difficult situations. There may be issues involving alcohol or drugs, for example, or issues in the employee's personal life. Sometimes these issues may be the cause of difficulties at work such as poor attendance or poor performance, or problems with workmates.
There are often established ways to deal with these issues in workplaces and they should be considered in the same way as for other employees. If you are having issues with your apprentice or trainee that you haven't been able to resolve internally, you can contact the Australian Apprenticeship Support Network provider who conducted the sign up, or your Group Training Organisation (if you use this service). These organisations can help resolve any workplace issues and may be able to provide external support and mentoring.
The Registered Training Organisation (RTO) delivering the course work can assist with any off the job training support to keep your apprentice or trainee on track with their training.
If there are issues that cannot be resolved using the above organisations, each State Training Authority has Apprenticeship Field Officers who can provide advice and support to you and your apprentice or trainee.