5 ways that upskilling your workforce delivers a healthy ROI

Now that the new decade has begun in earnest, it’s as good a reason as any to invest in your team for their future development. To be successful, any enterprise needs efficient, dedicated people to help drive productivity, promote growth and introduce diversity to the offering.

Investing in your people pays dividends in multiple ways

1. With richer talent on board, opportunities become broader and more achievable.
2. When your workplace culture is centred around ensuring job satisfaction, staff attrition drops and employee enthusiasm soars.
3. A better trained workforce experiences lower OH&S incidents.
4. Promoting from within your company maintains continuity and inspires loyalty.
5. Training in specific skills areas leads to added value for your customers.

All these benefits drive money back into the business and result in a more harmonious organisation.

Workforce shuffling

By paying close attention to your team, it will be easier to identify who has earned the chance for promotion, added training or reassignment to a different department. Consider taking on apprentices and upskilling existing staff to move into supervisory roles. In turn, existing supervisors can be trained for senior management roles.

Assign new and varied duties to team members to increase engagement and recognise responsibility. Safety training is always beneficial and enlisting specific people to be onsite Safety Officers demonstrates recognition of their dedication.

Opportunities for further learning

There is an endless array of specific training courses and other activities that help businesses gain an advantage and discover ways to add value for customers.

• Join an industry association in your state – These offer an abundance of resources and some even offer online seminars. Find your state association such as TimberQLD or TimberNSW.
• Attend trade conferences – Take advantage of the opportunity to meet and engage with a huge number of industry people, all in one place at the same time. Product demonstrations, multimedia presentations and even Virtual Reality experiences all provide tremendous insight into new manufacturing products and techniques, and emerging consumer products. WoodTECH, prefabAUS and Frame Australia are just three to explore. woodtech.events | prefabaus.org.au | frameaustralia.com
• Wood Solutions Campus – An online portal that delivers timber education and skills development opportunities for people who design and build with timber or are employed in the timber and wood products supply chain. Receive free Technical Design Guides and reference materials, read inspiring case studies and more. woodsolutions.com.au
• Timber Training Creswick – Offers a range of short courses, full qualifications including Diplomas and Certificates and tailored training to suit your company’s requirements. Take a look at their management short courses. Accredited and non-accredited training is available. Ask about training subsidies to offset the full cost. timbertrainingcreswick.com.au
• Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology – One of New Zealand’s largest tertiary education providers, Toi Ohomai offers some excellent management and business courses. toiohomai.ac.nz

Are there gaps in your operation that could be improved through further training? Perhaps you’re looking to enter a particular market or offer a new product line to attract new customers. Chat to your Accurate technical sales representative for a custom proposal for onsite training such as grinding or moulder operating. We offer consultancy across a vast array of different wood processing disciplines and would be delighted to assist you with your goals.