For Employers

How an apprentice can help you

• Staff with better and more skills work for you
• Training increases your staff retention and motivation - they learn while they work and earn
• Your business operations and profitability are enhanced
• Your employee product knowledge is developed
• Training creates greater awareness of food safety and hygiene
• Your work environment becomes safer
• Qualified trades people will secure your industry's future
• You're actively putting something back into the retail meat industry

How do I register an employee to become an apprentice?

1. Contact RMITO for an apprentice pack, which includes:

• Training Agreement - a document signing the apprentice into formal training. Download this document [PDF 54kb]
• Template Employment Agreement - a written agreement between the employer and the apprentice listing the conditions of employment and obligations of each party. Your company may have its own employment agreement with the apprentice;
• Training Requirements Booklet - explains the roles of the employer, the apprentice, and the RMITO in starting and completing an apprenticeship.

After receiving the Training Agreement from the Employer, the RMITO will:

• Register the apprentice in the RMITO system;
• Send a Training Manual to the apprentice and an Employer Checklist to the employer;
• Organise annual block courses for the apprentice; and
• Keep a record of the apprentice's achievements.

Distance learning packages

e-Distance learning packages for butchery apprenticeships are available through Skills4Work. Training programmes usually consist of the following components: On the job practical learning; Workplace assessment by registered assessors; Distance learning of theory knowledge; and two regional workshops, 2 days per year covering underpinning theory knowledge of the trade.

What is involved in training?

On the job:

• Employers receive information to help them prepare their apprentice for assessment of their practical skills.
• Butchery apprenticeships are no longer measured as 8000 hours served on the job. Apprenticeships are now known as "competency-based". This means that once an apprentice meets the standard set for a task they are awarded a number of units. Once they have achieved all the units required for the National Certificate, they are qualified as a retail butcher.
• The length of time that is required to complete an apprenticeship is approximately 3 - 4 years.

Off the job:

• Block courses are held at the meat schools of Manukau Institute of Technology, Wellington Institute of Technology, and Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology.
• Each block course runs for two weeks and every apprentice is required to attend once every year of their apprenticeship. During the block course the employer releases the apprentice from work on full pay so that they may attend. This time is not to be taken as annual holidays.
• Apprentices registered with Skills4Work undertake assessments on the theoretical components of the qualification by a combination of distance learning, and in two day regional workshops, held twice a year.
• After the course the employer receives a written report from the training provider reviewing their apprentice's performance.

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