Investment in Training: General Outlook…

In today’s ever-changing business climate, organisations constantly seek ways to remain competitive. Efforts to develop the knowledge, skills, and capabilities of each employee to maximise organisational impact are accelerating. Every organisation spends huge investment on workplace learning and performance (WLP).

Global Overview - USA

The following information will indicate the general performance of Training & Development activities in USA:-

- US organisations spent USD 134.39 billion on employee learning and development in 2007
- 80% of online learning is self-paced in recent years
- Costs in the delivery and consumption of learning hours are rising
- Leading contents are:

(1) Industry specific skills and information (14.45%)
(2) Process, procedures, and business practices (11.07%)
(3) Managerial and supervisory topics (11.00%)
(4) IT and systems learning content (10.24%)

Closer to home, how is the training situation in Malaysia?

Based on statistics in the 2007 Annual Report by Pembangunan Sumber Manusia Berhad (PSMB), the corporation under the Ministry of Human Resource, overseeing the Human Resource Development Fund in Malaysia, a total of RM 331,153,064 was spent for 690,875 training places in year 2007. There is a total of 10,064,817 hours of training duration and an average of 14.57 hours of training duration per training place.

(* Only for approved SBL, SBL-Khas, PROLUS and PERLA Scheme)

How about Lion Group?

As one of the leading conglomerates in Malaysia, the Lion Group has always emphasized the importance of training and development. According to the Group’s Head Office Policies & Guidelines (Section 2: Training and Development), every employee must attend a minimum number of hours of training per year. The specific number of hours shall vary according to the level of the employee but shall not be less than 27 hours per year for all clerical staff and above.

The total investment by Lion Group companies in the 2007/2008 financial year on attending CEDR’s training programmes (under Core Development Programmes, Ad-Hoc and others) was RM 782,000. This does not include company initiated training activities with external training providers.

Here, we feature how a company in Lion Group has successfully implemented a structured developmental plan for its human resources. The company is Silverstone Bhd in Kamunting, Taiping, Perak.

Overview of training & development initiatives

As one of the major tyre manufacturers in Malaysia, Silverstone has always maintained a strong and comprehensive developmental plan for its employees. It aims to continuously transfer the latest technology and knowledge that will ultimately help to achieve the company’s goals.

The training objectives of Silverstone are simple – providing employees at all levels with relevant information, knowledge and skills that will enable them to perform their job correctly, accurately, safely, effectively and in a professional manner.

Silverstone has set an average training days of 4.5 (36 training hours) per employees per year. This is above the standard set in Lion Group’s HRD Policy of 27 hours per employee per year.

Various training activities

Let’s look at various developmental activities undertaken by Silverstone:

Orientation Programme

New recruits at various levels are put through a 2-day orientation programme to help them adapt to Silverstone’s vision, mission and core values.

At the workers level, they will then need to undergo 3 days structured On-The-Job Training (OJT) with the respective department which will be conducted by the Labour Trainers and observed by the Section Supervisors.
For new Supervisory, Executive, Assistant Manager and Manager level intake, they will undergo 2 to 3 weeks induction session where they will be assigned to the respective departments such as production, technical, administration etc. in order for them to be familiar with the respective departmental responsibilities and functions.

Supervisory Competency Development Programme

An on-going programme is being organised for 68 supervisors (in groups of 4). 6 modules from the Lion Group Core Development Programme have been selected and tailor-made to suit Silverstone’s working environment. The ultimate aim of these modules is to increase the management skills of Silverstone’s frontline leaders in developing high performance teams. The 6 of modules are:

- Planning and Organizing Work
- Managing Quality for Excellent Service
- Team Problem Solving
- Handling Performance Problem
- Essential Communication Skills
- Leading Teams Effectively

Participants will be awarded a Certificate of Competence (after assessment process and achievement of the required competency) for each module. Finally, the Certificate in Supervisory Skills jointly issued by CEDR/Lion Corporate Excellence Centre and Silverstone Bhd will be awarded to those who obtain competency in all 6 modules.

Frontline Competency Development Programme

For the administration and support staff, 2 groups of 34 employees have been identified to attend 5 customised modules from the Lion Group Core Development Programme. The 5 modules are:

- Personal Work Effectiveness
- Communication at Workplace
- Problem Solving for Improvement
- Working Effectively in a Team
- Effective Customer Service.

Participants will be awarded the Certificate in Administration Skills upon achievement of competency after assessment.

On-The-Job Training (OJT)

During OJT, the Labour Trainers will use the structured OJT Manual, Work Instruction and Standard Operation Procedure to coach employee individually. At the end of each OJT, employees will need to undergo the Performance Check-Off (PCO) evaluation to determine their level of competency in their respective task/job. This programme is used to identify and determine the skill level of employees in production areas in Silverstone.

Other Programmes

A number of short training courses has also been planned to cover a broad range of practical topics such as Quality Improvement, Process Improvement, Environment Safety & Health, MIS and Human Resource. These in-house training is held for mass groups of employees and facilitated by Section Heads and Executives on selected Saturdays.

Other ad-hoc training programmes are also organized from time to time covering areas of safety, technical, quality and teambuilding & motivation.

In conclusion, Silverstone has adopted a positive approach of showing care and concern for its employees through continuous learning and development initiatives.