In an environment where many manufacturing companies for years have struggled to find entry level and mid-level skilled workers, a new approach was needed.
When people traditionally think about education and job training, people tend to get their education first and then apply for a job. This is a model followed by the traditional school and university or community college system.
“The traditional approach is what I call the supply-push model where we train as many people as we can and hope that they will then be hired by a company,” says Rod Jones, Managing Director of the Work Based Learning Consortium (WBLC). “The challenge has been that this had led to significant gaps for companies in manufacturing where they can’t find the workers they need. It’s been a problem that has been around for years.”
Jones notes that it often has led to employers trying to poach workers from other employers, which doesn’t solve the supply issue.
Employers can’t find the skilled help they need outside of a limited pool of workers and, in recent years, have faced the additional challenge of an aging workforce and reality of upcoming retirements.
At the same time, job seekers often find that they are unable to acquire the technical skills that makes them attractive to employer for in-demand positions.
Changing the Business Model for Upskilling and Reskilling Workers
WBLC has flipped this traditional education and training model upside down by working with employers to hire the employee first, and then provide the requisite training.
“We recognized that we needed to focus on the demand side and implement a demand-pull approach,” says Jones. “We work with industry associations and companies who are short of skilled workers and make them an active part of the process of building a skilled workforce they require. We also require that employers hire the candidates first and then train them.”
“We work with industry associations and companies (who become) an active part of the process of building the skilled workforce they require. Employers hire the candidates first and then train them.” – Rod Jones, Managing Director of the Work Based Learning Consortium
WBLC has placed a heavy emphasis on making sure people who are selected into a program and hired by a company are a good fit for the job that they are being hired for, and for which they will be trained. That means finding potential jobseekers who have the aptitudes and attitudes that will be a good fit for the relevant positions available.
“We’ve developed a demand-driven, employer engaged, competency-based approach that has really proven to make a difference. It’s all based around seven principles that are core to everything we do.”
The seven principles include:
Use objective, evidence-based competencies-based processes as the foundation for all selection, hiring, and training decisions and activities
Be strongly industry-driven, with active employer engagement in defining competency-based job profiles/standards for each skilled job position and in delivering ‘on-the-job’ technical learning activities to achieve the defined technical learning outcomes
Match job seekers with skilled jobs on the basis of the job-specific non-technical competencies required for job success, and provide competency gap coaching for those job seekers who are close to being a good match
Be ‘demand-driven’ – build and/or deliver training programs to fill actual current job openings and require that employers hire Trainees as full-time, permanent employees at the start of their learning program (‘earn while they learn’) and/or nominate current employees as Trainees, to meet the company’s skills shortages
Use a ‘blended learning’ method for technical training for job-specific technical knowledge and skills, which includes:
effective ‘on-boarding’ of Trainees and Company Trainers to the learning program
effective use of advanced learning technologies (e-Learning, VR/AI learning, micro-learning):
use e-Learning to carry the principal load for training but support as required with instructor-lead coaching on ‘hands-on’ skills e.g., use of hand and power tools;
closely align e-Learning ‘knowledge’ content with ‘practical skills’ learning on the shop floor
provide Trainees with structured experiential (on-the-job) learning guided by company job experts, who are well supported and guided in their training practices and have access to easy-to-use online tracking of Trainees’ progress
Compensate employers for their key role in providing the Trainee with ‘on-the-job’ learning – subject to the Trainee’s successfully achievement of all required job-specific technical learning outcomes
Use independent, valid, and reliable certification methods (competencies-based) to confirm Trainees’ successful mastery of all required technical learning outcomes.
“There are two controlling pieces in our approach,” adds Jones. “One is to set the job standard, meaning defining the technical learning outcomes for the position. This will drive the learning activity for our training program. The second factor is at the front end to make sure the people coming into the program are a good fit.”
A Proven Approach
WBLC has been able to demonstrate that this approach to training and reskilling employees is fast. Training is accomplished in less than half the time of traditional methods and it has proven to be reliable, with a 90% success rate. Finally, it also has proven to be very cost efficient, cutting in half the traditional costs of obtaining the skilled employees that companies need.
“Employers are very happy with our 90% success rate given that many hired had not worked in manufacturing before.” – Rod Jones, Managing Director of the Work Based Learning Consortium
WBLC has worked with more than 80 different companies, helping them to find more than 800 trainees. More than 90% of the trainees who have completed their training achieved WBLC certification.
“We’re proud of our success rate that 90% of trainees achieved their certification,” says Jones. “Many were young people (18-29), who had a high-school diploma and had not worked in manufacturing before. By having a job standard and a certification process, we’ve developed work-based learning programs that lays out a training process that brings trainees along and provides benchmarks that allow them to demonstrate that they have learned the competencies set out in the job standard. It’s proven to be a winning model for employers, their trainees, the industry itself, and the government in supporting industry to increase productivity and prosperity.”
We are surrounded by signs. They are on stores, on buildings, on cars, on walls, and on the floor. Entire cars, buses and trucks can be wrapped and converted into mobile signs. They can identify buildings, objects and people, attract customers, convey safety information, or provide directional information. Inside … outside, signs play a very important function in our daily lives.
“Signs are everywhere but they also are ‘ubiquitous yet unknown'” – Karin Eaton, Executive Director of the Sign Association of Canada.
“Signs are everywhere but, as it has been said in the industry, they are also ‘ubiquitous yet unknown’,” says Karin Eaton, Executive Director of the Sign Association of Canada. “Despite being everywhere, very few people think about what goes into sign making. There are so many elements – architecture and design, engineering, manufacturing and installation. There is no one way to get into the sign industry, but often you are born into a sign family, stumble upon it through marriage, or you learn graphic design in school, start working in a sign shop and then move onto other areas.”
Hiring Young Talent and Reskilling Workers
In an evolving industry, there is a desire to attract young talent as well as reskilling people who are interested in career changes.
“Education has always been one of the key strategic areas of importance for us,” adds Eaton. “One of the ironies of the pandemic is that elearning and new technologies, such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams, have become more prevalent and accepted.”
Carl Weger, President and CEO of Sleek Signs and past President of the Sign Association of Canada notes that a lot of the education that is done in the industry is on-the-job training and some of it is manufacturer-based.
Creating the Graphics Installation Technician Program
Work Based Learning Consortium (WBLC) is developing a selection and learning program for the Graphics Installation Technician with the Sign Association of Canada. Graphic Installers often are involved in the application of wraps to cars and buses. Working with industry experts, WBLC has constructed a blended elearning program that also includes instructor-led coaching on hands-on skills as well as a train the technical trainer element. WBLC will screen and assess job candidates, will develop and deliver training for the new hires or employees that could benefit from upskilling, and is developing a certification program to certify all of the graduates.
The Graphics Installation Technician program has several elements:
Graphic signage – trainees need to be knowledgeable about the most important types of signs and graphic installations.
Work Documents – they have to be able to read and interpret all these different work documents.
Math – important to have math skills for measurement, alignment, proportions.
Programs – trainees need to be knowledgeable about the types of machines and programs used in graphical installations. This element teaches what these different programs can do.
Programs and Machines – understand the roles of machines such as a graphic plotter and flatbed CNC machines.
Materials and installation surfaces – Understanding the different materials, such as vinyl that goes into a graphic install.
Learning the characteristics of materials, read the manufacturer product, understand the surface and then choose the materials.
And, demonstrating efficient use of measurement and tools used in that job.
Participants will be asked to do a series of five projects – three installs and two removals.
The Graphics Technician Installation Technician program is funded by Future Skills Centre, a pan-Canadian initiative dedicated to helping Canadians gain the skills needed to thrive in a changing labour market. This is the first initiative with the Sign Association of Canada and is being undertaken to test and confirm their industry’s interest in specific training programs and national certification.
The Value of Certification
“The certification element has a number of advantages. It establishes a baseline of quality, validates the career choice for employees, increases interest from potential applicants to the sector and, over time, increases the capability of company employees, while also increasing retention rates,” says Rod Jones, Managing Director of WBLC. “The certification provides an independent, valid and reliable means of affirming that the trainee has actually acquired the competency, knowledge and skills that they need to do the work. This is beneficial both for the trainee and the industry as a whole.”
A National Program
“This program should result in producing a person with a broader set of skills and accreditation, which should be appealing to many in this industry” – Carl Weger, President and CEO of Sleek Signs and past President of the Sign Association of Canada
The program will begin training people in the late spring and summer 2023 with at least nine companies, located across Canada from British Columbia to Nova Scotia, involved in the program launch.
“As a national association, we felt it was really important to have national representation in this pilot,” says Eaton. “It was really important for us to select companies across Canada of different sizes, so that we have a better understanding whether you are a big company or small, more remote or in a crowded urban setting, we discover the effectiveness of the program. This is really exciting. My hope is that it will lead to elearning in other areas, too, down the road.
Rod Jones of the WBLC says he and his team also are enjoying working on this initiative.
“We’re very pleased to be working with the Sign Association of Canada on our first pan-Canadian initiative,” adds Jones. “Together, we can help train new or upskill employees for Sign Association of Canada member companies. We are using the same, proven methodologies that we’ve established with other industries, but it’s rewarding to teach different technical knowledge and skills to a new group of people.”
Carl Weger adds that there are likely more than 10,000 organizations nationwide, in almost every large and small community across the country.
“This program should result in producing a person with a broader set of skills and accreditation, which should be appealing to many in this industry,” adds Weger.
Many industrial sectors across Canada are experiencing huge disruption with the advent of new technologies and automation, and most are experiencing a shortage of skilled workers. Using rapid upskilling and reskilling, Work-Based Learning (WBL) programs help diverse job seekers – especially those in underrepresented groups such as women and new Canadians – to find or transition to in-demand skilled jobs in industrial sectors. The programs allow:
unskilled/semi-skilled job seekers and skilled workers in transition to get hired
current employees to acquire industry-valued skills and achieve recognized certification
employers to meet their critical skills needs, efficiently and reliably.
Training / Career Services Provided
The WBLC worked-based learning model circumvents traditional CV-based recruitment approaches. It maps competencies for target jobs, identifies candidates who have been or are at risk of being displaced, refers them for interviews and delivers theoretical knowledge and on-the-job training so people can obtain an industry-recognized credential. Employees ‘earn while they learn’.
Early Results
Since early 2014, over 60 advanced manufacturing employers in Ontario have partnered with WBLC to hire and train unskilled job seekers or upskill current workers or those in transition – a total of more than 650 employees – for skilled jobs at entry-level or mid-level, with a success rate of over 85%.
In the initial phase of the project, WBLC and the Canadian Association of Mold Makers partnered to upskill displaced workers, providing training needed to fill vacancies in mold-making and injection-molding trades in Kitchener-Waterloo and the GTA where companies reported a skilled worker shortage. That initiative helped transition 24 mid-career workers to new or ongoing full-time, permanent employment as skilled workers.
Next Phase
WBLC and its partners are expanding the range of industrial sectors and the provinces in which the value of rapid upskilling will be shown via four (4) new WBL Programs. WBLC will also implement ‘rapid upskilling’ via accelerated delivery of three (3) existing, proven WBL programs for skilled jobs in advanced manufacturing.
In addition, this project will develop and implement three training innovations:
a systematic process to identify the employers’ needs to upskill/reskill their employees and meet their skills shortages
structured Competency Gap Coaching to bridge non-technical competency gaps (transversal skills) for current skilled employees
an AI-driven Technical Workplace Language Fluency training to assist immigrants and workers in transition in advanced manufacturing workplaces.
WBLC has developed Technical Training Effectiveness Workshop specifically designed for manufacturing & production trainers.
Program Goals
The program:
Drives business results with training that immediately improves technical training effectiveness.
Improves the capability of current staff, your on-the-job experts, to deliver effective technical training and coaching to new staff, or current team members who are up-skilling
Provides attendees with an easy-to-use framework for performing their training work.
Immediately improves the Technical Trainer’s productivity and increases their confidence to do the job so they can take on more responsibility.
We focus on the two most important aspects of a technical trainer’s role – a proven method of job instruction training and the skills required to support their trainees as they master their job tasks.
Program Elements
The Program includes modules covering:
How Adults Learn
Job instruction skills
Communication skills
Setting up for success
Diversity / biases
Providing feedback/feedforward.
Program Feedback
Previous attendees have shared:
The workshop and technical training framework gives them confidence in working with their trainees
The training was very supportive for us, it guided us how to train new staff
Hope to attend more training like this as it helped me with new ideas on how to tackle different situations
