Strategise to Thrive
Improve business performance with Enginuity’s fully funded workforce planning training tailored for engineering and manufacturing SMEs.
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Enginuity x Made Smarter presents Strategise to Thrive
“SMEs are the backbone of engineering and manufacturing, yet many struggle to find the time or resources for workforce planning. Strategise to Thrive was designed to change that.”
Claire Aspinall
Impact & Delivery Manager at Enginuity
What is Strategise to Thrive?
For many small and medium-sized businesses, strategic workforce planning training is often out of reach—either too costly or not suited to the realities of a busy SME.
Enginuity and Made Smarter have collaborated to bring manufacturing SMEs in the East of England a fully-funded pilot programme, Strategise to Thrive, to support high-quality strategic workforce planning.
The programme will guide learners through seven interactive virtual sessions delivered by expert consultant Maddy Ryder from JamJar HR.
What's on the course?
The programme provides practical workforce planning tools including:
- baseline strategic workforce planning assessment
- organisational strategy
- current workforce analysis
- future workforce demands
- gap analysis
- action planning.
These tools support you to assess your current workforce, identify and close skills gaps, and implement a clear workforce plan that strengthens capability and delivers positive bottom-line impact.
Additional self-complete resources will be provided to learners after each session to support ongoing implementation.
The course starts on 24 March 2026 and is limited to one representative per organisation.
Who should take part?
The programme is designed for engineering and manufacturing businesses with 250 or fewer employees, in the East of England. It is aimed at senior managers, business owners, and HR managers who are responsible for making decisions on workforce planning, skills development, recruitment, and succession planning.
The Strategise to Thrive programme is only available to organisations that have not previously engaged in formal, paid-for workforce planning training.
This pilot programme is only available to eligible SMEs based in the East of England.
Why invest in workforce planning as an SME?
8-year reduction in average age of workforce
Brandauer, an SME in the UK, saw an 8-year decrease in the average age of their workforce after investing in workforce development.
65% of management team from an apprentice background
For the Brandauer, 65% of current management team have come from an apprentice background, with two being homegrown talents.
25 young people aged 14 to 19 from diverse backgrounds
Brandauer has seen five of these proceed to a successful apprenticeship journey with the company, with two winning industry awards in recognition of their efforts.
Cost savings of 6–10% within a year
Research by HR.com showed that investing in workforce planning or management tools can result in cost savings of 6–10% within a year; others slash scheduling time by up to 80% and avoid thousands in overtime and compliance costs.
Benefits for employers
Baseline workforce planning capabilities
Access to a workforce assessment tool to assess your organisations strategic workforce planning capabilities and identify gaps.
Evidence for recruitment
Provide a solution to recent changes to UK immigration policy, which now requires more robust evidence of skills shortages when recruiting internationally – placing additional pressure on SMEs to plan strategically and adopt workforce planning approaches.
Retain skilled employees
Access to skills and talent monitoring, succession planning and personal development tools and support, enabling talented employees to be retained at your organisation longer.
What’s the time commitment?
The Strategise to Thrive programme offers a modular training approach with 14 hours of virtual contact time, delivered through seven interactive sessions over a six-month period.
Sessions are practical and discussion-based, with participants expected to complete and implement activities within their organisation between sessions using the tools and resources provided.
Course dates:
- Tuesday 24 March
- Tuesday 28 April
- Thursday 14 May
- Tuesday 16 June
- Tuesday 14 July
- Tuesday 6 August
- Tuesday 8 September.
How much does it cost?
The Strategise to Thrive programme is fully funded by Enginuity, which includes the cost of all the training and access to all the tools and resources.
There is no cost to participate, however the programme is limited to one representative per organisation.
The commitment is your time, and we expect attendees to commit to the full programme.
When does the programme start?
Enginuity is planning to commence the programme on 24 March 2026.
Applications are open until 16 March 2026.
The 20 available places will be allocated to eligible employers on a first come, first served basis.
How do I apply?
Please use the Apply button below to register your interest. The employee (participant) needs to complete the application form to be considered.
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If you experience any issues with the application process or require support, please email [email protected].
