Training | PPC93 December 2018

BPCA Registered takes a different approach to continuing professional development to other schemes in the sector, but the differences might not be easy to see until put into real-life situations.

Karen Dawes, BPCA Training Development Manager, has created some example situations so you can see what it will be like to use the scheme.

SOLE TRADER
One technician

Member A is a sole trader offering a range of general pest management services mainly working with rodents and insects. She covers an area with a radius of 50 square miles and works primarily in the domestic market. She set up on her own two years ago and is experiencing a good rate of growth.

Biggest challenge

Achieving and recording CPD can sometimes be a challenge due to time constraints. As a sole trader, she is solely responsible for carrying out all pest management activities and any spare time needs to be focused on developing her business.

As a result, her CPD is very ad-hoc, and it currently tends to be more around making sure she can record 20 points rather than driven by any developmental goals.

The BPCA Registered solution

For her CPD to be manageable and effective, she needs a scheme which is flexible and will work around her requirements. CPD needs to become an integrated part of her working life rather than another task to be completed.

BPCA Registered will enable her to use the learning that she gains on the job as CPD.

She will also be able to register for online learning in areas where she needs to develop and she can do this in her own time, at her own pace. The outcome will be that her CPD will be relevant to her role and recording it won’t continue to be an added burden on her already busy life.

SMALL COMPANY
Five technicians

Member B is an SME working regionally. The team has five pest control technicians and carries out both commercial contract and domestic pest management activities. The team is a mix of experienced and novice technicians although all are qualified to at least Level 2 Award in Pest Management. The technical manager likes his novice employees to learn from their more experienced peers as he feels that this can be more valuable to them than sending them on training courses.

Biggest challenge

The challenge is that the mentoring his technicians are giving cannot be recorded for their CPD requirement. This means that they have to take additional time out of their working hours to attend events and training in order to achieve their 20 points.

The BPCA Registered solution

To ensure the best use of time and resource, Member B could develop training plans for each of his employees and build mentoring in as part of the wider programme. That will mean that other activities such as attending events and training courses could be used as additional CPD resource where mentoring isn’t appropriate. This planned approach ensures that all learning is being recorded, time off the job is kept to a minimum and CPD development is more focused on the technician.

Through BPCA Registered, both formal and informal mentoring is recognised as valuable CPD. If he has a formal mentoring programme he can apply for this to be CPD accredited and his technicians will receive points based on their contribution to each other’s learning.

If it’s informal mentoring, where an experienced technician is demonstrating a process to a novice technician, CPD can still be claimed through the unstructured route. All that’s required here is that those claiming CPD to reflect on what they have learned through answering a few online questions.

MEDIUM COMPANY
60 technicians

Member C set up in business ten years ago and has grown to become a company employing 60 employees working across north-west England. The MD wants the company to be recognised as a professional pest management business and all technicians are encouraged to develop their skills and achieve higher qualifications. The company mainly does contract work in the commercial and public sectors.

Biggest challenge

As part of business development, the MD often has to compete for tendered contracts. He wants to be able to use the professionalism of technicians as part of the tender process in order to maintain contracts and win new ones. The MD also feels that having trained technicians is a positive marketing message to use when promoting the business.

The BPCA Registered solution

When applying for tenders, it is important that you differentiate yourself from competitors. Often all companies will have the relevant policies and processes in place and so all will receive the same scores. It is often unavoidable at this stage to avoid the tender being decided on the price.

By demonstrating the skills and commitment of the employees, it is possible that this will differentiate the company sufficiently to be able to win the contract based on value rather than price.

In addition to CPD, BPCA Registered also offers a professional recognition scheme that distinguishes qualified technicians. By joining the scheme, all technicians will become BPCA Registered Technicians with the opportunity, as the scheme develops, to continue to higher categories, depending upon the level of qualifications achieved.

The company technicians will also be provided with BPCA Registered ID cards which will contain a list of the qualifications technicians held.

LARGE COMPANY
300 technicians

Member D is a large company working nationally with branches across the UK and 300 employees across all branches. The business has a good reputation and is well known and recognised as a pest control business.
The company has an in-house training and development programme in place for all employees. It covers all types of pest management including specialist areas and works across all markets.

Biggest challenge

Managing the CPD of all its employees is a challenge particularly in relation to ensuring that all employees understand the benefits that it brings to them individually. The company would also like to build CPD into training programmes so that it becomes more of an integrated process.

The BPCA Registered solution

With large teams, it’s often difficult to maintain the motivation and purpose of employees on an individual basis. It takes a lot of resources to keep on top of it all. By encouraging employees to not only take responsibility for their own CPD but to give them the tools by which to manage it and the incentive to do well, management becomes much easier.

As well as providing personalised CPD accounts for each individual employee, BPCA Registered also enables company administrators to view and manage groups of employees. 

As the scheme develops, we will also offer a company ‘league table’ facility so that employees are motivated to achieve the highest level of CPD. As a member of BPCA Registered we will work with you to develop reports and processes to keep your team on track with their CPD.

How to join BPCA Registered

If you work for a BPCA member company you'll be automatically enrolled onto BPCA Registered, unless the main contact for your employer opts out.

If you’re the main contact for your company and want your organisation to be BPCA Registered, contact our team today and we’ll make sure your company is on the scheme.
registered@bpca.org.uk

This benefit is only available to BPCA member companies and therefore individual technicians must talk to their employer.

Source: PPC93