A well-Oiled Machine in Workforce and Workplace Training at VALA

A WELL-OILED MACHINE

IN WORKFORCE AND WORKPLACE TRAINING AT VALA

Valley Adult Learning Association is a Literacy and Basic Skills program, funded under the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development. Its office is located in the small town of Fort Frances in Northwestern Ontario.

For the 21st last years, Barb Duguay, the program administrator, and Kim Redford, the instructor, have been successfully running the adult literacy program at a time when Workplace/ Workforce definitions were out there but really not well defined.

After much consultation and discussion with learners and employers, a Workplace vs. Workforce guide was developed.

This is how workplace and workforce trainings could be characterized:

Workplace › Authentic training driven by the employer › Can be off-site or on-site › Employer determines learning objectives › Employer provides learners Employer referral: My employee needs some training

Workforce › Authentic training driven by the employee › Learner determines the work skills needed to be successful › Learners may be working already or looking for employment › Can be off-site or on-site Self-referral: I need some training

One of the keys to VALA’s programs’ successes is flexibility, reflects Barb Duguay. Another one is certainly Authentic Training: a learner will be more invested in learning what is relevant to their workplace. Also, an employer will prefer to invest in an employee who will improve performance in the workplace.

WORKPLACE SCENARIOS

Over the years, the VALA agency has worked diligently with employers and learners to secure new skills and job security. Here are some examples of the training in Workplaces.

SUPER 8 ESSENTIAL SKILLS TRAINING PROJECT

The management team of the Super 8 Hotel approached the VALA program, and was invested in training staff. Barb Duguay believes that when the employer is on board, it offers both the LBS program and the employer time to design authentic training. Bonuses for that project were not only both parties’ investment in time but also the fact that wages were paid to employees as they were attending training.

Shortly after the training, they were told that the hotel manager was pleasantly surprised with the increase in staff camaraderie and problem solving abilities.

› Essential Skills Project; › Run in conjunction with Super 8 hotel in 2010; › To address essential skills needs in the workplace; › Super 8 staff required skills upgrading in digital technology in order to transition into a new computer management system; › 17 staff members participated; › 6 month computer training course (2 days per week to alternate staff); › Staff paid wages by Super 8 during training.

ONTARIO TOURISM EDUCATION CORPORATION (OTEC) – CUSTOMER SERVICE

In August of 2017, VALA was presented an opportunity through the Ontario Tourism Education Corporation: a week of intense training in Toronto was offered to employers and staff in the hospitality industry. The recruitment process was to be handled by VALA and it was a challenge as the design had to be designed around staff working in the hospitality business, with

little available time from the employers to discuss the program content. But it was finally managed with in-person quick meetings. OTEC provided for the loss of wages for the staff, which secured the success of the program. Barb believes that one of the keys to successful training is to secure incentives from a variety of agencies.

› OTEC provided curriculum, staff training and facilitator; › VALA was required to provide 10 learners at the management level and 10 learners at Line level (front-line workers) in the hospitality sector; › The management received 2 full days of training, the frontline workers received 3 full days; › Lunches were provided; › Outreach worker established contact with local hospitality employers and marketed the program.

INTRODUCTION TO ADMIN

Barb Duguay says the most important thing they learned while designing and delivering the training was that, by knowing the specific needs of a group of learners, they made sure to create a program meeting those needs. All ten learners were able to complete the training. The program’s success was also partly due to incentives.

› Ontario Works First Nation requested an Administration course for recipients; › Ontario Works determined the schedule, created to accommodate daycare, schooling and transportation in and from the community; › Ontario Works paid for lunches and arranged transportation; › Training included digital technology, office technology,

Computer training, policies and procedures, workplace communications, Dress for success, Employer expectations; › Incentives were provided by OW and VALA; › All participants were on Methadone so training needed to work around medical appointments; › Participants set their own policies for the course.

CUSTOMER SERVICE SKILLS TRAINING

One last example Barb Duguay is willing to share is an overlapping one: workforce and workplace training. It took place in September 2017. VALA was offering a Customer Service Skills training course and several employees from the local Pharmasave signed up. The VALA staff reached out to Pharmasave to gather the specific customer service skills desired by the employer and tailored the training around working in a pharmacy. VALA was finally able to monitor the attendees in their workplace after completion of the training, in partnership with Pharmasave. This is a good example of how flexibility can improve an initial offering, comments Barb Duguay. She agrees that creating programming, whether it be Workplace or Workforce training, can be challenging but she strongly believes it is also rewarding, and that offering LBS services doesn’t have to be straight forward. Being creative, flexible and offering authentic training can be a complete game changer for LBS providers across the province. ■

A FEW OTHER EXAMPLES OF SPECIFIC EMPLOYERS’ REQUESTS:

› New Gold Inc. goldmine asked for the training of an employee new to a team leader role; › The Fort Frances jail requested onsite computer training for employees using in-house templates; › Wasaw Food Services needed small business owners to get computer upgrading training to effectively run their businesses; Barb believes the ingredients that led to success were:

› The employers were very flexible with their employees’ schedules to attend training; › VALA had several referrals from their Employment

Ontario Partners; › Employers were very willing to assist employees to gain experience on site.