#04 The more you know, the better you work

Nowadays, technological and socio-economic development can be seen in all aspects of our daily lives. The process is clearly visible in the labor market. As companies innovate and rely on modern systems and solutions, many employees fail to keep up with the changes. Entrepreneurs, who know that the potential of their company is largely determined by the crew, try to support their staff in their development. With well-tailored training, employees learn effective methods of operation and employers can enjoy increase in their productivity. Participation in training allows people to broaden their knowledge, acquire new skills, and the more they know, the easier it is to work for them.

However, not every entrepreneur can afford expensive training and many cannot cope with the complicated subsidy procedures. Our task was to channel funds in the form of subsidies, which employers then allocated to selected training and courses entered in the Development Services Database. Funding was a maximum of 80% of the value of the service. The most popular professional trainings included broadly defined beauty industry, gastronomy, dentistry and physiotherapy. Other popular trainings focused on soft skills: team building, customer service and time management. Throughout the project, over 12,000 employees from almost 3,700 companies were trained.

The project was implemented as a partnership. We succeeded thanks to the cooperation of four entities: Regional Development Agency in Częstochowa S.A., Local Development Agency S.A. in Sosnowiec, Association Bielskie Centrum Przedsiębiorczości and Databout Consulting sp. z o.o. in Warsaw. Each of the partners brought valuable experience and working methods to our project, which allowed us to carry it out smoothly and without any problems.

I have been working in the carpenter’s shop for three years. I am a carpenter and warehouseman but I also perform the duties of assistant manager. Our company specializes in the carpentry industry, mainly in garden architecture. Our offer included gazebos, summer houses, sheds, garden furniture and playgrounds. I am responsible for maintaining job records as well as entering and reporting on production processes, supervising the team and stocking products. Recently, our company has grown a lot. New customers mean more orders, and when there is more work, managing production becomes much more difficult and complicated. Therefore, the company has implemented an integrated system to facilitate the management of plant operations and production. It is based on automating most processes and streamlining data flow. Thanks to different levels of authorization each employee has access to necessary information within the scope of his/her position. Together with a team of seven people, I received training in the use of a module of production. After completing the course, I started using the new software. Today, it helps me estimate raw materials needed for production, its time, costs and many other aspects. The new way of arranging work has had a good impact on the plant's operations. Everything is better organized, we work more efficiently and effectively, minimizing the risk of errors to practically zero. I am glad that my employer saw the need for our training and decided to invest in human resources. Our industry is developing very dynamically, therefore in order to keep up with the changing situation and not to fall behind the competition, financial resources are needed not only for the machinery park, but also for the courses for employees.

In our company, you can see how a good training system improves the production process and increases the quality and productivity of work. Investing in staff, as you can see from our example, is very important. Large sums of money are spent on modern equipment or innovative technologies, but without trained people no machines or equipment will work properly.