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Workplace Education Manitoba seeking northern business input

The Sept.
Marlene Gogal Marcela Vipond chamber of commerce sept 21 2016
Workplace Education Manitoba northern operations manager Marlene Gogal (right) speaks to the Thompson Chamber of Commerce, joined by northern training co-ordinator Marcela Vipond.

The Sept. 21 Thompson Chamber of Commerce meeting saw a presentation from Workplace Education Manitoba (WEM), providing an overview of WEM’s approach to workplace education and training, and setting the stage for gathering more information among local businesses. Representing WEM were northern operations manager Marlene Gogal, and northern training co-ordinator Marcela Vipond.

WEM is a nonprofit organization that works to ensure that Manitoba businesses have access to a trained and adaptable workforce by providing educational opportunities for both business owners and employees alike. WEM focuses on what they describe as “essential skills” as defined by Human Resource Skills Development Canada: reading text, document use, writing, working with others, thinking skills (such as problem solving), oral communications, digital technology and continuous learning and adaptation.

WEM operates with two employee streams: existing employees requiring upgraded essential skills, and potential employees. WEM’s primary project in Northern Manitoba has been Vale’s Process Operator in Training (POInT) program, designed to attract a more stable, locally sourced workforce. Vale Manitoba Operations corporate affairs and development manager Ryan Land had nothing but praise for the success of the program, and WEM’s role in its creation. “We would not have been successful with our northern strategy without WEM at the table. We went from hiring 80 per cent of our people from outside of the north, believing that there was not a skilled workforce that could be trained in the north, to breaking that myth, and hiring 100 oer cent of our process operators and labourers in the north.”

But Gogal noted that WEM provides its services to all Manitoba businesses, whether small mom-and-pop operations to large corporate bodies like Vale. Neither are WEM’s services geographically limited: while the organization’s regional office is in Thompson, consultants are willing to travel to remote communities by whatever means necessary, whether by highway, winter road, or airplane. As a matter of fact, Gogal’s agenda for providing the day’s presentation was to gain an understanding of Thompson’s business requirements in order to expand their northern operations.

The benefits of enhanced workplace training are clear: employers have the potential to see a marked increase in their workplace productivity levels, providing ample return on investment for hiring WEM’s services while improving both the employability of employees, as well as the confidence to apply those skills to other areas of life (As a non-profit, Gogal noted that WEM’s fees are set only to cover operational costs). Gogal noted that it was unwise to compare levels of essential skills among provinces as a measure of employability, noting that each industry requires a different spread of essential skills. Nonetheless, Gogal described the majority of Manitoba’s workforce as operating below the baseline required for continuing success and adaptation in a changing economy.

“In Manitoba, most of our workers are operating below that,” noted Gogal. “That means that we have workers that are doing their jobs without the skills they need for maximum efficiency and productivity.”

Of course, members of the chamber were curious to know what the root causes of under-training in Northern Manitoba were; chamber president Oswald Sawh wondered whether holes in the education system might be partially responsible.

When it came to education, Gogal suspected a lack of focus surrounding the transferability of skills one learns in an academic setting. “Often times we find workers who learn a skill in a certain context, but have a hard time taking that and applying it in different ways.” Gogal also notes that technological and structural changes to the workplace can impact otherwise competent employees.

Regarding employer needs, City Centre Mall manager Keith MacDonald was quick to point out a profound lack of customer service skills among the employees he and his partners have worked with over the last decade. “It’s a key thing we’re losing; it’s becoming an art.” MacDonald noted that one-on-one communication skills are lacking, as well as a proactive mentality towards resolving client concerns.

Retention was another key issue that Gogol wanted to gain an understanding of. MacDonald noted that Northern Manitoba’s perpetual staffing shortage means that employees have little incentive to remain at a single establishment for very long, while employers become docile in verifying employee references (if they can afford to reject staff at all).

“The employees may have their own agenda,” he notes. “They’re not there for the business, they’re there for the money, and they know they can get another job in a heartbeat. But if you were to check those references, you wouldn’t hire those individuals.”

As a result of the discussion, WEM plans to circulate brief surveys among chamber members in order to get a better grasp of northern business challenges and demands.

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