Workplace Skills Planning

A workplace skills plan (WSP) documents the skills needs of an organisation, and describes the range of skills development interventions that an organization will use to address such skills needs. It reflects the intended skills development programme of an organization for the year ahead. It provides the basis for identifying and planning for skills development initiatives relevant to the organizations’ strategy and to individual development needs. WSP entails an assessment of an organization’s training needs and recommend the skills programmes that the employees need to undertake in order to increase their performance

Skills levy-paying organizations are required to develop and submit to the relevant SETA a WSP every year in order to comply with the skills development legislation. By complying with legislative requirements, an organization is granted access to SETA grants available for skills training. However, in order to qualify for these grants, organizations must also ensure that their Annual Training Reports (ATR) are also submitted. This report shows your progress against organization’s last WSP.

The submission and subsequent approval of these documents entitles levy-paying organizations to claim back 20% of the skills development levy that they paid over to SARS.

Annual Training Report

The ATR reflects the actual education, training and skills development that took place within an organization for the previous 12 month period. It provides the basis against which an organization can report progress towards skills development needs identified in the WSP submitted the previous year. The ATR will assist an organization in identifying successes or failures of previous efforts, thus allowing an organization to identify areas which it can improve on in order to remain effective and competitive.

Why is a WSP important?

A WSP outlines how an organization/employer is going to address the training and development needs within the workplace. It assists employers to identify and provide relevant training that will address the skills gaps within the organization. Compiling a WSP ensures that training is not only reactive to needs that emerge but also speaks to the overall organizational strategy, as well as encourages a holistic and sustainable approach to skills development. A well-thought-out WSP will ensure that the skills that an organization lacks are addressed. This, in turn, will result in decreased training and development costs as development efforts are more focused.