Your role as a host employer
Everything you need to know before hosting an apprentice or trainee — how it works, what we do, and what we'll need from you.
WPC Group is a Group Training Organisation (GTO)
Operating under the National Standards for Group Training Organisations and registered with the relevant state and territory training authorities. We employ apprentices and trainees and place them with host employers like you. WPC Group is the legal employer - we sign the training contract, pay the wages and carry the employment obligations. You are the host employer - you provide the workplace, day-to-day supervision and the on-the-job training that turns a new starter into a qualified professional. The arrangement between us is set out in a Host Employer Agreement.
What WPC Group takes care of
Our Role
WPC Group manage the role design, recruitment, (based on your criteria), screening, testing, TAFE/RTO sourcing and government interactions, saving you time and money.
Recruitment
You’ll interview pre-screened shortlisted apprenticeship and traineeship candidates that firstly meet with your expectations. You make the final decision on who you wish to choose.
Onboarding
Our team will manage onboarding, orientation, contracts, registration of training contracts, OHS, training set-up at TAFE or RTO, payroll & tax. The successful candidate will be ready for work from day 1.
Support
Your organisation and your chosen apprentice/trainee are supported throughout the entire placement by a dedicated WPC Group field consultant, who visits the workplace to liaise with you.
Your responsibilities as a host employer
Hosting is a partnership, and your side of it matters just as much as ours. By signing a Host Employer Agreement, you agree to:
Provide a safe workplace
Meet your occupational health and safety obligations, induct your apprentice or trainee into your site and safety procedures, and provide a work environment free from bullying, harassment and discrimination.
Supervise appropriately
Your apprentice or trainee must be supervised by a suitably qualified and experienced person, at a level that matches their stage of training. In licensed trades, supervision must meet the relevant regulatory requirements.
Train on the job, in line with the training plan
Provide work and a training environment that lets your apprentice or trainee practise and develop the skills in their training plan, across the full scope of their qualification.
Release them for formal training
Apprentices and trainees must be released from work to attend off-the-job training and assessment with their TAFE or RTO.
Support assessment and monitoring
Contribute to workplace-based assessment where required, and give your WPC Group field consultant reasonable access for regular support visits.
Keep us in the loop
Tell your WPC Group contact promptly about any concerns, incidents, injuries, performance issues or changes to available work — early communication lets us act early.
Treat them as one of your team
Apply the same standards of conduct, inclusion and respect you'd expect for your own employees.
What an apprenticeship or traineeship involves
A registered training contract
Every apprentice and trainee is employed under a training contract between WPC Group and the apprentice or trainee, approved and registered with the training authority in the relevant state or territory. The contract includes a probationary period and a nominal duration — typically three to four years for an apprenticeship and one to two years for a traineeship.
Structured training with a TAFE or RTO
Alongside paid work, your apprentice or trainee completes a nationally recognised qualification, following a training plan developed with the training provider, WPC Group, the apprentice or trainee — and input from you.
Both on-the-job and off-the-job learning
Competency is developed and demonstrated in your workplace as well as in formal training, and completion requires both. That's why the quality of workplace experience you provide matters so much.
Fair employment conditions
Apprentices and trainees are paid under the relevant award or agreement and receive the same protections as any other employee under the Fair Work Act — with WPC Group managing these obligations as the legal employer.
All parties to a training contract receive a copy of the National Code of Good Practice for Australian Apprenticeships, which sets out the obligations and expectations of employers and apprentices. As a registered GTO, WPC Group operates under the National Standards for Group Training Organisations.
Mentoring creates a climate of support, guidance and teaching which boosts apprentice and trainee engagement, productivity and retention.
Mentors meet regularly with apprentices and trainees to proactively detect and address potential sources of stress or disengagement. Our mentors’ ability to be the ‘honest broker’ and act early to mitigate any transitional workplace issues has been proven to reduce the risk of attrition or sudden disengagement, making for a stabler, more reliable experience for your organisation and your apprentices and trainees.
Why Mentoring Matters
Questions about hosting? Contact a WPC Group Business Development Manager — we'll walk you through everything before you commit.
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