How to Provide Training

How to provide training.

How to provide training.

If you’re WCG International When WCG International, a Victoria-based HR consulting and job placement company, was asked to open a pilot job-placement program in various cities in Southern and Central Ontario last year, the company was faced with a problem: how to pass on its corporate culture and best practices to an entirely new group of people? “We needed 40 new staff on deck very quickly,” says WCG’s Darlene Bailey, the senior VP of HR and field operations. “We weren’t transferring anyone, so we needed to figure out how to bottle the magic that is WCG International.” Bailey came up with WCG University, a training program that not only teaches on the job skills but also the company’s culture and personality. The program was such a success that WCG is now using it to train all new staff in B.C. and Ontario. Training should begin with a clear understanding of who a company is and where it wants to go, says Bailey. “If an employee doesn’t have an understanding of the organization’s goals and mottoes, then they’re not going to be at their best,” she says. “First, you have to teach people what the company’s about, then you can get into the specifics of what they need to do everyday to be better than the best at their particular job. Every single person, from a guy in finance to someone in the Ontario office to our CEO – everyone gets it. Everyone understands our core values. That’s really, really important.” WCG staff are evaluated and reviewed twice annually. In the review, staff can ask to be trained further or be recommended for further training such as leadership or conflict-resolution skills to improve their job performance. “The strength of your people defines an organization,” Bailey says. Personal growth is good for the company, good for morale and good for job retention. “We don’t want to lose our staff history,” she says. “Training new staff is expensive.” WCG forks out $4,000 on average for new staff but for some positions, costs can climb much higher. It’s cheaper to invest in employees and their future than have staff stagnate and quit. The ideals work in WCG’s favour. By offering extensive training, job shadowing and opportunities for movement within the company, WCG enjoys very low employee turnover. The real proof, though, is in corporate performance. The 10-year-old company has grown steadily and now employs 202 people. Since April 2005 when WCG opened JobsNow in Ontario, 1,000 people have been placed in high-tech, business, retail and construction jobs. In B.C., 34,000 people have been placed in 10 years. Successfully placing unemployed people is dependent on believing they will be successful, Bailey says. Job counsellors have to believe in their clients, and that belief trickles down from the top of the company right to the bottom. “I believe completely in my team,” says Bailey. Add an understanding of what the company is about and success is almost guaranteed, she says. “If [staff] get it, they are excited to come to work. They believe in the customer, and so the customer believes, too.” Maybe the moral to take to the office from WCG’s training philosophy is: sometimes believing in one’s staff is the most important part of training them.