Worth Media (South East)
The Company
A plaque outside Worth Media's new headquarters in Brighton commemorates William Friese–Green, 'the inventor of cinematography', who once had a laboratory in the building. When John Worth left a career in TV and film production to set up the company in 1996, it was similarly early days for the 'new media' industry. In the decade since, Worth Media has won BAFTA and IVCA awards, produced interactive content for clients from the DfES to Channel 4 to Lucozade, and established itself as a leading digital communications agency.
Today, the creative and cultural industries in the South East are dominated by the media and digital sectors, which are thought to generate 85% of their turnover and employ approximately 54% of the region's creative and cultural workforce. Brighton and Hove are home to a cluster of interactive businesses, comprising largely web design companies, but also IT software and services, corporate media, e–learning and digital learning producers.
Worth now has 20 staff working in management, production, design, development and client services – with plans to bring in another 10 people, as they seek to win longer term accounts and multi–brand clients. Most are graduates and the company knows that their motivation and loyalty are vital to its success in an industry where what counts is creativity and quality. Indeed, the company has identified the difficulty of recruiting skilled staff as its main challenge as a business.
The Visit
Jo Cassey, Skillset's Regional Manager for the South East, joined Train to Gain broker Helyn Soud on her visit to the company, where they met John and two of his senior staff, Mark and Ilse. This was a chance for Helyn to find out what was already happening in the company and where Train to Gain might help.
It was clear that Worth is already very conscious of the wider need for skills development. The company has taken the lead in piloting Media Induction Days at local FE colleges and John himself took part in the launch of the South East Skills Strategy for the audio visual industries.
Internally, the focus is on CPD and in particular on the role of Production Assistant. This is an entry level position for which Worth has just taken on two new staff, both recent graduates. The company has created an inhouse flexible training pathway that equips them to progress to the role of Junior Digital Producer within twelve months. This involves a mix of on the job learning (approx. 90%) and internal training in areas such as client handling and email etiquette, supplemented by external courses in technical skills, knowledge of digital marketing techniques, etc.
With the support of an internal mentor, the Production Assistants are allocated a training budget to source external courses for themselves and are also given a quarterly review. Worth Media has placed an emphasis on this role as it is a key pathway entry point into and through the company, while the rationale for the training is that this is a key skills shortage area.
The Outcomes
As a result of the meeting, Helyn drew up a Skills Action Plan for Worth, based around the company's priority of ensuring all new staff acquire the skills needed to do the job. With Skillset's help, she was able to identify possibilities for external training which would meet the Production Assistants' needs.
While the Level 2 qualifications offered free under Train to Gain are of little use to a company whose employees are predominantly graduates, Jo was able to provide information about Screen Bursaries – a scheme run jointly by Skillset and Film London, which can cover 80% of the cost of courses up to £800 for individuals.
"Train to Gain is an interesting lever," says Jo, "but what's on offer is usually too generic to be relevant to digital media companies. As a broker, Helyn recognised her lack of sector specific knowledge – the answer was to work with Skillset to signpost employers towards more specialist training."