Connect with us

Business Management

Employee Training

Better-trained workers are more efficient.

Published

on

During more than two decades in the sign business, I’ve worked with many highly skilled people. Without exception, my company’s most outstanding employees had substantial formal training. Although the sign industry has never been heavily unionized, union apprenticeship programs still represent the best models for inhouse training. Union training typically provides workers with the complete range of skills necessary to complete all tasks they encounter in their daily jobs. Trade schools and college-level, industrial-arts programs also provide excellent preparation for sign-industry workers. In fact, two of the most skilled people with whom I worked were high-school shop teachers who moonlighted as sign mechanics during the summer and holiday breaks. But my company also employed some excellent, full-time employees with union backgrounds as ironworkers, sheet- metal mechanics and welders. Well-trained employees offer two principal benefits. First, better-trained workers know how to complete their jobs more efficiently. If you compare the work procedures of skilled versus unskilled employees, you’ll notice that a skilled worker spends more time planning his work, but less time doing it. Unskilled workers, on the other hand, often get ahead of themselves in their tasks, sometimes reaching dead ends that force them back to the drawing board. Overall, skilled workers produce better results in less time. Second, well-trained workers provide managers with critical scheduling flexibility. If you’ve ever been forced to delay or reschedule an important project due to the absence of a key person, you understand professional training’s value. Ideally, the people who perform your company’s work should be interchangeable, at least in terms of their skill sets. If a particular employee lacks the skills to repair a sign or operate a crane, you will constantly be forced to adapt your daily schedule accordingly. Because highly trained employees spend considerably more time planning their work, casual observers sometimes wrongly conclude that union workers are ponderous. In reality, however, the timely completion of almost every major U.S. construction project today depends on the efficiency and quality of these skilled craftsmen. Even if a sign company isn’t a union shop, it can still reap the benefits of formal, inhouse training. To develop an effective training program, however, management must invest the necessary time and money. What might such a program look like, then, and how can a sign company train its employees properly without disrupting daily operations? Required courses Any worker-training program must start with safety. Although shop safety is essential, sign erection and maintenance work typically are associated with more hazardous conditions. Your company’s safety training should start with effective company rules designed to protect employees from the most common, work-related hazards. For example, sign companies should insist that field workers wear hardhats on the job. Any worker who uses a crane-mounted ladder or aerial lift should also wear an approved safety belt equipped with a lanyard to prevent falls. In addition, sign companies should require the use of safety goggles (during power-tool operations), steel-toed boots, hearing protection and gloves. Because employees may forget, or perhaps decide not to use, protective gear, managers and foremen must strictly enforce rules regarding safety gear. Crane and aerial-lift operations are probably the most hazardous work that sign-company workers perform on a daily basis. Many serious accidents have resulted from improper use of this equipment. Before they attempt to use this equipment on the job, therefore, employees must receive substantial shop-based training under expert supervision. Because no sign company can afford to tie up equipment in training sessions, conduct equipment training on weekends. To make these training sessions productive, your trainees can hone their skills while cleaning your shop’s outside storage areas. It’s a rare sign-company manager who doesn’t struggle to find time to organize his stock of old signs, poles and surplus parts. While trainees organize your storage areas, they should also learn about pertinent Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rules, as well as practice proper procedures for safely rigging and hoisting loads. Weekend training sessions can also jump-start your company on Monday mornings by having trainees load signs and poles on your trucks and trailers for scheduled projects. This work will also teach them how to secure loads properly for hauling. Always remember, however, that the primary purpose of these sessions is training, and all training must be properly supervised. Despite numerous related accidents, ladder and scaffold training is often ignored. Because all employees aren’t equally comfortable with heights, identify each person’s comfort level. When I worked in the sign business, for example, we had a freestanding, wooden "A-ladder," the center section of which extended to a maximum 30 ft. working height. This heavy ladder required two men to carry it and set it up. As comfortable as I am with using ladders, I always insisted that someone steady the bottom of this monster when I was standing on its center section at heights above 20 ft. I don’t intend to establish hard and fast guidelines, because some people feel the same trepidation at 10 ft. that I did at 30 ft. The key is: Don’t expect anyone to exceed his ladder or scaffold comfort zone. In the sign business, people afraid of heights shouldn’t perform "high work." But certain employees uncomfortable with heights can still be valuable workers. Ladder training acquaints you, at the outset, with each trainee’s capabilities. It also helps you identify which people are better suited for working close to the ground. Because sign companies typically have boneyards, it’s easy to set up electric signs for lighting-repair training. One of a manager’s most frustrating experiences is when a recently hired employee returns from a service job without having repaired the customer’s sign. How can you legitimately charge your customer for this kind of on-the-job training? It’s far better to make sure that your employees have been properly schooled before sending them out on the job. On-the-job learning Although the sign trade’s basic skills can be learned primarily through inhouse training, mastering the trade requires substantial on-the-job experience. Consequently, crew leaders and foremen must understand that teaching less experienced workers is an important part of their jobs. In most cases, this simply means taking time to explain why certain work procedures are necessary or desirable. Unfortunately, an experienced employee may guard his knowledge because he fears younger workers may compete with him. Such reluctance can usually be overcome, however, by appealing to your employee’s self-esteem. Make it clear that you have chosen this person to serve as a trainer because you consider his work exemplary. Encourage your highly skilled employees to view training tasks as rewards rather than simply as extra work. Your most skilled employees are also excellent sources of feedback on the progress of workers in training. If a recently hired worker is having serious problems developing a certain skill, or even if the problem involves attitude or motivation, managers must acknowledge the situation before it creates problems on the job. In most cases, your experienced workers will appreciate judging the progress of younger or less-experienced coworkers. Training pays Some sign companies eschew training because it requires time and money, or perhaps because employee turnover seems to reduce its value. As a result, many sign-industry workers are still being trained primarily on the job. Unfortunately, high workloads and inevitable absences due to illness or vacations often allow poorly trained workers to fill in for experienced workers. This practice only exacerbates the training dilemma by placing inexperienced workers in positions of seniority. An effective training program must integrate all of the key skills necessary for sign-industry employees. It must also combine classroom and shop-based instruction with on-the-job experiences. Skilled workers must serve as training-session leaders and also teach trainees during their daily work. This may involve some overtime for your higher-paid employees. It can also require managers to spend time at their shops on weekends, when they might prefer to be on the golf course. But the good news is that your training efforts will pay big dividends in the long run. Your employees will be more productive, and your company’s quality of work will be substantially higher. Your daily scheduling task will also be easier. Furthermore, because your employees will be working more safely, you will reduce or eliminate the serious accidents and injuries that can stop a sign business in its tracks. Workforce Training Tips

Most Popular