KEY POINTS:
The turnover at Coca-Cola Amatil NZ is at its lowest level in four years and Kate Daly says its internal training programme is a big reason why.
"Of the reasons why employees leave their employer, career opportunities, career progression, internal development and the opportunities that they get are always key drivers. So, we've really focused on that," Daly says.
Daly is the acting general manager of human resources at Coke and says its turnover has been steadily decreasing since it increased and formalised in-house training.
"We're sitting about 4 per cent under the national corporate average according to some of the large external agencies such as Higbee Schäffler."
The training programme is called Coke Uni and is an online distance learning centre available to Coke's 1100 employees throughout the country. So far this year, it has offered 55 courses to around 580 workers.
"We've got an online modular programme which is focused around our sales. We also provide a core learning framework - 'communicating with confidence', 'organisation management', 'presenting with impact', those types of programmes," Daly says.
Coke has a certain philosophy which it trains its sales staff to take on board.
"One of our business positions in the market is customer intimacy. So in order to be a customer-intimate organisation, you really need to try and manage the knowledge of the people you have interacting with your customers."
Even though the workforce is young and mobile, Daly says the training pays off.
"We'd love our sales reps to perhaps stay a little bit longer as I'm sure most people in this industry would. But you've also got to say that you'll invest in them while they're here," Daly says.
Coke assesses and reviews its employees in two key areas - performance and potential.
"You can be a really high performer in your current role but have low potential to move up into that next role. Or you could be someone who has really high potential but you're under-performing in your current role."
Those employees who score high on performance and potential are offered the chance to participate in Coke's Excel programme.
"They are identified as future leaders for our company. More than 50 per cent of employees on the Excel programme were promoted or took on responsibility within that year," Daly says.
It's a bit of a status symbol at Coke to be in Excel. Participants are given an individually tailored development programme.
"We get a really good understanding of where their developmental needs are and then we build a programme around them in terms of where they need support and development.
"They also get exposure to cross-functional business projects."
But not everyone is cut out to be an Excel participant.
"If you're in a role and you're very comfortable in your role and you don't want to progress outside of your role, that's absolutely fine. No problem whatsoever.
"But what we want to do is provide you with the ability to keep challenging yourself in your role."
At present there are no tests following the training programmes but that may soon change.
"The next step for us is to get NZQA accreditation on some of our leadership programmes. That's something we're really looking at doing," Daly says.
But although the training is internal, some programmes are subcontracted out. If Coke does not have a specialist, it goes to the market and finds one.
"For some of our programmes, we use external people who are guest specialists. For things like 'negotiation with impact', we use an external provider for that."
Pam Martin runs Extra Mile Training, which provides training for various companies and government departments. She says where many people need upskilling is on their basic computer skills.
"It can be time-consuming for organisations to do basic computer training. Most companies prefer to do the more industry specific training in-house and farm out the general training," Martin says.
Martin says most people waste an average of 38 minutes a day because they are not proficient enough in Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint and the basic Windows operating system functions.
There is a global standard for computer literacy. The International Computer Driving Licence is valid in more than 140 countries and some 3.5 million people hold one.
But if you think that new graduates have good computer skills, Martin says you're fooling yourself.
"Because people assume that graduates have the knowledge, they often employ people on a misconception and become slightly unstuck when they find that they haven't got the skills," Martin says.
But for many companies, the skills required are industry-specific. Most people may not be aware that there are level three NZQA certificates in table games, gaming security and food and beverage.
Carol Home, learning and development manager for SkyCity Auckland, said it started offering the qualifications late last year and was working towards NZQA qualifications for its cashiers, gambling machine attendants and surveillance officers.
"It's about giving them a nationally recognised qualification for the training that they're doing for their job. It's a bonus for them in many ways because they're now getting a national qualification which is going to be recognised throughout New Zealand and overseas," Home says.
And a qualified blackjack dealer has plenty of overseas options.
"It's actually a surprisingly transferable skill. Even though there are not a lot of casinos in New Zealand, occasionally we've got dealers who go off and they'll work on cruise ships. And they'll do that for six or seven months and they may come back."
Home says there is also a market for people in specialised fields such as casino security and casino surveillance.
"A retail security person definitely wouldn't have the skill set we require. While our security staff are specialised, they are well-recognised around the world," Home says.
There is a significant expense in taking people off their shifts and hosting the training programmes but Home says it's well worth it.
"The benefit to SkyCity is around attracting people, because they know they can get a qualification with us, and retaining people because some of those qualifications might take several months up to a year-and-a-half to complete." It's also about empowering the staff to do their jobs.
SkyCity employs staff from more than 70 different countries and 35 different cultures. So they run an English literacy programme to increase their employees' confidence to speak English and engage more at work.
"It's definitely improved oral communication skills among our staff who have English as a second language.
"The managers are reporting that their staff are asking questions and getting really involved in meetings and contributing."
At the mid-level managers' level, employees are offered a two-stage leadership programme focusing on people skills and business results.
But the training programme is not directly tied to career progression and is no guarantee of a promotion.
Nor are employees penalised if they don't participate.
"It's not to say that people wouldn't get career progression if they didn't do it because a lot of it is voluntary."
For organisations seeking to retain staff in this labour market, it's better to offer employees personal development opportunities in-house before they find them elsewhere.
