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Mary Campbell, Director of Development at TWC also shared the benefits and challenges of hosting an apprenticeship program. She related her experience to that of others in the room, working in a fast-paced industry against competition from substandard international suppliers and with a determination to stay local and provide quality Australianmade products.
“Total Window Concepts was the first business to sign up apprentices for the pilot program and have enrolled over 100 students to date.”
“We have 115 doing the Certificate III, which I think was a fantastic uptake in our employees on their quality basis. But it has been a heavy investment from us in terms of our time.”
“We have seen an improvement in the status of reworks and an improvement in the communication between staff members.”
“There has also been an uplift in safety consciousness and adherence to workplace policies and procedures as a result of training provided.”
The biggest challenge Campbell shared was the split between production and learning and finding the right balance so that business is not impacted, but learners still have a rich learning experience. She also highlighted that although government assistance was accessible, not all employees will qualify.
“I was delighted to hear about the government rebate from MEGT, but in reality,
not everybody gets a government rebate.”
“We only got about 20%, but that is a good indicator that shows how committed we are to the learning and training. The learning and training is important for everybody, not just those who get the apprenticeship rebate.”
Campbell also highlighted the value of the Certificate IV, the Leadership and Management Course in changing the culture within the business
“We learn from mistakes and having emphasis on what we’re doing, and why we’re doing it, and how we’re doing it has really created an exciting new environment for us because it’s not only the formal learning that we get from Frontline, we’ve invested in our own learning from our staff training each other.”
“Also, just to know that this training is specific to not just our industry but our business, and so, it has to be meaningful. It has to be measured in order for it to be critically valuable,” Campbell added.
