As a company owner and industry trainer, I know to well about the cost of training staff. Training staff can cost a company thousands of dollars in lost income, staff wages, and of course the training organizations fee for service.

Every day I receive phone calls regarding details of training and the costs associated with this training.

We all want trained and competent staff but we don’t want to pay for it. We can advertise for trained staff or we can train a person from scratch.

Some other disadvantages of training are as follows:

1. The trained persons want more money for their increased level of skill.
2. The trained persons leave your company for a few more dollars with another company.
3. The trained persons leave your company to start up on their own in opposition to you.

If you spend the time and money on training a person to a point when they finally start being productive and making you money, you don’t want to loose them the next week.

Many companies fear the loss of a fully trained staff member, all that effort and money wasted and benefiting another company. But that hard work has not been wasted entirely and ultimately is for the greater good of the industry. The source of good quality, experienced and trained persons is currently limited and needs expanding and someone has to expand it.

Who will send the time and money to train people for the future of the industry?

Tafe offers a very good start, a firm grounding with lots of under pinning knowledge but it lacks on the job industry experience and that makes the transition from classroom to real life much harder for the student and their employer. Tafe coupled with a student working in the industry is an excellent combination for all.

If you employee a person straight out of tafe without industry experience I can guarantee that they will need a lot of work to get them up to speed so they are productive.

Tree climbers are the classic example when we look at training without industry experience.

Imagine this person applies for a job with you. This person tells you they have had extensive training in tree climbing and associated topics. So you ask them to turn up to a crane job one morning and watch you do part of the job and then they can finish off the job to show off their skills.

You see this person turn up to the job site as the first branch is picked off with the 50 tonne crane and after that you don’t pay to much attention until you get to the ground for morning tea. You ask the crew were this person is and they say he left after only fifteen minutes in total fear. This person thought we were crazy so he went back to pruning roses.

You only have to see a tree climber in action for a few minutes to know if they have what it takes or not. They can say they have had ten years experience and been trained by a guru but the proof is in the seeing.

Almost everybody wants to be a tree climber but not every one is up to the challenge. One of the benefits of this industry is that climbing Arborists can work at different levels and stay within their comfort zone. We can choose to work on small too medium trees with minimum risk and avoid the big ugly jobs.

It’s the under pinning knowledge that is vital for a climbing Arborist. Gone are the days of a climbing Arborist having no knowledge of tree species or basic tree biology. The physical act of pruning a tree requires so much more knowledge other then the use of ropes and a chainsaw.

In house training

In house training is great but it does have its problems. Firstly the trainee may learn by watching others and that could create bad habits. That is do what I say not what I do! Secondly the person training the trainee may be a really good tree climber but a hopeless teacher or poor communicator. Thirdly the teacher may only teach their way of doing things and their way may be out of date or even worse totally dangerous.

I see the transition of bad techniques and practises all the time. And it is extremely hard to correct bad habits in a person once they are using these practices on the job. Bad technique can stay with a person for life and may never be corrected.

Initial external training is important to help avoid bad practice and ensure the person gains the best and safest techniques available and learns about why we do things a certain way. They need to learn the difference between right and wrong, safe and dangerous and so on.

We should never stop learning

There are many ways of doing things and we should not be limited to one. If you are set in your ways and have blinkers on then you will be left behind. You should learn some thing new every day by listening to people and looking at the way you do things. Ask yourself can I do this better, safer or easier. If you question things then you will improve and advance your career. You may even invent a new product that will improve the industry or productivity within your company.

Except change as a good thing because it’s not all bad and listen to people because they may be right. As a trainer I know one of the hardest things to do is to teach somebody who knows it all.

I could show you four different ways to tie the same knot, none of them are wrong only different. You could have an open mind and try them all and then choose the one that suits you best. That one may be the one you are currently using because it’s faster to tie and is less prone to error then the others or you could have a closed mind and turn away not interested and learning about the other methods of tying the knot.

We all have a choice but that choice should not be not to listen and learn. Expand your mind and good things will follow.

The Cost of Training

If I could show you a technique or method that would

• Make your job much easier would you want to learn it?

• Make your job safer would you want to learn it?

• Reduce the amount of effort required for a job would you want to learn it?

• Reduce the time on the job by half would you want to learn it?

• Reduce the possibility of property damage would you want to learn it?

• Make you $250.00 more profit on a job would you want to learn it?

The answer to these questions would properly be “yes but how much will it cost me”?

It will cost you staff training and not much more.

 Lets look at the possible true cost of a training day for one person:

1. The course cost for one day may be $320.00.
2. The wages and expenses they are normally paid for that day, Say $180.00.
3. The loss of income for that person not working on the job. Say $80.00 per hour x eight hours

= $640.00.

Total $1140.00

Does that figure scare you? Remember it is only a simulation and the figures are not accurate.