Canadian Training Systems - Essay Example

Running head: CANADIAN TRAINING SYSTEMS Assume you are the HR manager of a large organization. The companys Board of Directors has just asked you to justify your request for a .75% increase from .25 to 1% of payroll for training. Your organization is a unionized workplace with a mixture of blue, pink, and white collar workers. Develop an argument along with supporting information that justifies your request for the increased training amount. Satyaprakash Dixit Synergy institute of engineering and technology, India Abstract Keeping in view the current situation of our organization, the requirement to provide formal training programs to our employees and the importance of such programs in the long run can be neglected in no respect and neither can the positive outcomes of training on the productivity and success of various other establishments in the market be kept unseen. I personally do believe that a meager 0.25% increment on payrolls of employees during training is inadequate and dissatisfactory, so as to keep them going and making them believe in their capabilities and the importance of what they learn during the training process. A 1% increment will to some extent, solve some if not all of the problems that these valuable gems of our organizational family face in their day to day lives. I have full confidence in the project and hope that it will bring success and fame, leading us to prosperity. There is a growing belief and empirical evidence that there have been some strongly encouraging returns to training investments in workplaces. The benefits from such investments in Germany and Japan have been remarkable and have encouraged other countries to follow suit. Workplace training since long has been a black box in terms of our human resource management system. The AET (adult education and training) and IAC (industrial assessment center) surveys carried out in most industries all over the country; reveal the importance and requirement of employee as well as employer training. Training can be categorized into formal and informal. The WTS (workplace training surveys) say that training in 75% of all establishments all over Canada is informal. The type of training that includes proper vision, pre-defined objectives, a structural format and a defined curriculum may be defined as the formal dimension of training. Informal training may include monitoring relationships, experimental learning and sharing knowledge among employees. These methods could be highly flexible, versatile and effective. However, with these, our statistical profile of training and its efficiency does still remain mostly incomplete. Training, more specifically the formal version, takes place in larger establishments and organizations rather than the smaller ones. The reasons may be the following: firstly, larger organizations are potentially and economically stronger, having access to good information on training opportunities. They are more capable to take their employees ‘off-line’ to give them formal training. Secondly, the regional differences and the type of industry come into play. Training is strongly associated with innovation. Training is complementary to innovation and technological advancements. Also, competition in the global market and the presence of a union, are other two vital factors that strongly influence training activities. Polarization in the work place can also influence the level and efficiency of training processes. The WTS results of too consecutive years revealed a 20% drop in commitment for formal training in most establishments all over the country. The workplace was found to be getting polarized gradually into two groups- one that showed an increasing interest for training and the other that showed reverse characteristics. Such results were more prominent among smaller organizations and firms with smaller capitals and that were devoid of unions. There may be variations in training experiences, which may be due to reasons such as differences within the workplace with workers of different skills, differences in the overall training effort between workplaces or due to the interaction effect as mostly seen among highly skilled workers who get employed in organizations that emphasize highly on training. Training issues mostly creep into organizations where incidental learning takes place but with rarely any investments on formal training. These companies that are branded as ‘stable’ rely upon practices and procedures that have existed since long. Such establishments share about 35% of the industrial market. The second category of establishments are those that undertake formal training along with incidental training only in response to specific triggers such as introduction of new technology, equipments etc. About a quarter of all establishments fall into this category. Time and mode of delivery can be issues about training for an organization as well. Most firms generally find it difficult to employ training along with a regular production or service delivery. Funding issues may be a concern for the organization and firms in which the employees sponsor their own training expenses. Issues of information can be obstacles in the path of effective training. Factors such as identifying training needs, finding best sources of training and measuring the impacts of these investments must be given great priority too. Invariably, the blue collared workers are affected by such factors. All the above barriers and issues of effective training resolve around money, information and time. In order that equilibrium is maintained in the workplace, organizations and employers must address to such factors. Various WTS designs involve features intended to improve our understanding of training impacts. They reveal benefits from training both for employees and employers. Employees who had received formal training got benefited in terms of wage gains significantly. Wage premiums of workers who had undergone formal training with their current employer, were in the order of 10%. An extra premium was associated with training received from previous employees. Training benefits were most prominent for workers with the pink collar including women working as receptionists, air-hostesses, matrons etc in different workplaces all over the country. They reported substantial improvements in their self-confidence, employability, job performances and job satisfaction. Most organization with training programs, reported improved profitability, business viability and outlooks. Even after controlling for other establishment characteristics, it was found that the organizations and firms with the strongest commitment for training activities were more likely to report positive revenues and productivity. WTS data show remarkable positive outcomes of formal training. The reports reveal significant developments in skill and intangible benefits to the organizations such as higher wages to workers and improved employability. Formal training can be used as a tool for redirecting an organization towards a higher value-added strategy based on contribution to human resources and a more constructive employee-employer relationship. Training should be regarded as an investment and not simply an expense. Most organizations involving low-skilled work; basically consisting of the blue collared workers of the workforce, show least interest and importance to formal training programs. Such situations are more commonly faced in labor markets where unemployment is high. In employer-sponsored training, the individuals consisting of higher levels of human capital receive disproportionate amounts of training while those with higher levels of human capital are under-represented. The importance of training in creating opportunities in the labor market remains quite unrealized today. The WTS data clearly show that the white-collared workers involving mostly the educated and high-skilled workers (corporate) are most strongly motivated to get further formal training while the rest of the workplace remains virtually untrained. Formal training generally flourishes more effectively in employer-sponsored training programs rather than the self-sponsored ones. Such employer-sponsored trainings in workplaces mostly take place during work hours thereby avoiding potential time conflicts with domestic and other responsibilities of the workers. So, self-sponsored training plans may fail due to the absence of capital markets for financing training. In these situations, investments such as increments in payroll during training, productivity benefits etc, may well prove to be better solutions. Today, Canada ranks near the bottom of industrialized OECD (organization for economic cooperation and development) countries in its investments in workplace training. Employer or organization sponsored training is probably the cleverest and the most fruitful step in order to exploit the maximum benefits from training. It includes financial support, accommodation of time demands, productivity benefits etc. One way of improving training effectiveness is a method of payroll increment during training. Some establishments offer training schedules during the working hours itself. Such programs are more practical to huge establishments and large scale industries and organizations. However small organizations and employers can not afford training at the risk of a reduction in productivity as a result of a decrease in the effective workforce engaged in production activities. Further, considering the event-triggered training investing establishments that are actually the majority in Canada, training in the workplace during the work hours becomes cumbersome and difficult to manage. So, most establishments and employers organize training schedules in separate hours, apart from the work hours. In such situations, extra training investments become indispensable for the workplace that consists of all three categories -blue, pink and white collared workers. Considering the situation of a factory that produces motorcycle parts, we may very easily demonstrate the importance of training investments such as increase in payroll for training. The factory consists of all three collared workers-blue, pink and white. The majority of workers come from the labor market. They are the blue collared workers; laborers, sweepers, watchmen, storekeepers, electricians, peons etc, only to mention a few. Our greatest challenge today is to impart formal training to such a class of workers in the workplace that invariably works because it find no other easier work that would give better money. In contrast to this situation, the white collared workers consisting of executives, decision makers, engineers and asst. engineers, accountants, advocates, the management committee etc, should not be much of a worry for the organization when it comes to training as by default, these are the first people in the workplace who receive training. Let us say, a lathe machine that runs on the latest technology and that is completely different from the previous machines be introduced to the workplace. Such new technologies will be practically implemented only when the white collared sector of the workforce is already well-trained and acquainted with it. Thus, the next step is to train the blue and pink collared workers of the factory. Further, a white collared worker belonging to any of the above mentioned category works because he finds greatest pleasure and interest in his job apart from a much higher payroll than blue and pink collared workers. So, a training schedule for say a new technology to be introduced would be an interesting project rather than an extra burden on his workload. This, one must agree is absolutely contrary to blue and pink collared workers. So, in order to generate an equal amount of interest and dedication among these workers for training, extra investments become mandatory. One way could be incrementing the payrolls of the workers while training. The offer of a higher payroll in training might sound quite lucrative for a blue or a pink collared worker. WTS results reveal massive improvements in post-training benefits to establishments all over Canada where such steps were taken. Ours is a unionized workplace involving workers of all kinds; right from laborers to executives. For the trainees, an increment in payroll will prove to be a reward rather than an extra burden on their workload. It will generate more enthusiasm and interest among the workers and will surely prove to be a profitable investment on the long run. Payroll increment or an increase in the sty fund amount for the fresh trainees can be complemented with an entrance test (either written, vocal or a practical work-capability test). It will enable us to get a refined pool of both blue-collared and high skill workers of the highest caliber. This will undoubtedly prove beneficial on the longer run. A higher payroll to the worker will most certainly encourage him to pay more attention and importance to his training. So training will no longer be a meager formality as it is, unfortunately for quite a few workers in our organization today. A higher payroll will sound a more sensible reason to the worker why he should compromise with his domestic and social responsibilities. Keeping in view the current situation of our organization, the requirement to provide formal training programs to our employees and the importance of such programs in the long run can be neglected in no respect and neither can the positive outcomes of training on the productivity and success of various other establishments in the market be kept unseen. I personally do believe that a meager 0.25% increment on payrolls of employees during training is inadequate and dissatisfactory, so as to keep them going and making them believe in their capabilities and the importance of what they learn during the training process. A 1% increment will to some extent, solve some if not all of the problems that these valuable gems of our organizational family face in their day to day lives. I have full confidence in the project and hope that it will bring success and fame, leading us to prosperity Reference: Betcherman, Kathryn McMullen, and Katie Davidman ISBN 1-896703-29-1 Canadian policy research networks 1998 Read More