City centre business owners are being offered free online training courses for them and their staff to help with their post-lockdown recovery.
The courses have been organised by Bradford Business Improvement District (BID) in partnership with Ilkley-based Virtual College, which has more than four million online learners worldwide.
The BID, a limited company funded by an annual levy on local businesses to help promote and develop the city centre, is sponsoring a range of eight different courses, but levy-payers will also be able to enjoy a big discount on any of the College’s paid-for courses.
Nikki Chadburn, the BID’s business engagement officer, said: “This is a unique scheme designed to help owners and staff learn new skills to boost their businesses as they try to bounce back from the difficulties caused by the pandemic lockdowns.
“In the Virtual College, we have a fabulous resource on our doorstep, and it seemed absolutely right to team up with them to help provide the best training and support we can for levy-payers and their teams.”
Ilkley-based Virtual College, a world-leading e-learning provider, was launched in 1995 to use new technology to enhance traditional approaches to training. It pioneered the use of the internet to deliver training at a time, place, and pace to suit the learner and now has more than 125 employees who have delivered courses to people in more than 70 countries.
Rod Knox, chief Executive of Virtual College, said: “As a digital learning provider our aim is to create digital learning solutions which allow people, organisations and communities to succeed and flourish.
“At this challenging time for many businesses, we are pleased to be able to provide support to BID members to continue to develop their employees’ skills, keep them connected and engaged ready for the next set of challenges.
“Developing employees’ skills will enable businesses to be ready for the short-term and build resilience for the medium-term. As businesses start to adapt and prepare to return to a workplace that may look and feel significantly different, this extensive range of online learning will offer the flexibility of learning at a time and place that suits the learner.”
In addition, the BID has organised a 20 % discount for the first 50 businesses who sign up for any of the Virtual College’s hundreds of paid-for courses.
The courses cover many key business areas such as health and safety, management and leadership, communications, risk assessment and managing remote teams as well as personal and professional training for employees.
They run specialist training for a variety of sectors including the food and drink industry, which has been heavily impacted by the lockdown restrictions.
A Virtual College spokesman said: “When it comes to food & drink safety you need training that creates real behaviour change. Our courses create that change. We bring food and drink safety to life; using relevant scenarios and engaging resources to enliven and motivate learners.
“We’ve trained over 750,000 food and drink professionals in the past 25 years. From small cafés to food processing plants, we know the training your people need to increase efficiency and ensure compliance.”
The eight free courses on offer are:
- Get Moving, Get Healthy
- Mental Health and Well Being Resource Pack
- An introduction to Infection Prevention and Control
- Prevent COVID 19
- Prepared to Save a Life
- Home deliveries for food businesses
- Setting up your business for food delivery
- Digital Business Suite
Businesses can register for the free courses here.
Feature image credit: Glenn Carstens-Peters via Unsplash.
