UNIT | 4 | HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES . . UNIT | 4 | HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES MODULE 4 UNIT 12345 SESSION 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Session 8-9. • Labour requirements 106 • Recruitment 112 • Trial periods 122 • Developing your staff 128 | ROUTES: Business skills 105 UNIT | 4 | HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES Section Four: How to develop yourself and your employees 4.1 LABOUR Labour requirement Labour profiling Getting the right number of staff with the right skills within very small businesses is crucial to success or failure to that business. Not only must the correct level of staff be employed (to avoid over stretching the staff or having staff standing around idle) but also the skills possessed by staff are important for quality of work and they must have the right attitude to the work you require them to do. In this section we will look at profiling of labour, analysing the skills you require and recruiting the right staff for the job. ¾ Tasks and timing of tasks The type of work and the level of that work will vary enormously throughout the year in most small and micro businesses and especially in those within the tourist industry sector. A range of factors influences the requirements for labour, seasonality will affect overall demand with peak months often being June - August or in some areas with significant mountains, skiing is important during the winter months. In the tourism service sector like accommodation and catering your greatest demand will come at peak times whereas in the production sector (e.g. crafts, clothes, local processed/processed foods as was indicated in section 3) manufacture of these products will be required before peak demand in order to build up stocks in time for the peak season. | Routes: Business skills 106 UNIT | 4 | HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES ¾ Building your labour profiles As part of your planning for a business enterprise you will need to clearly identify the job tasks and work programmes required to make your products or deliver your services efficiently. You should identify all the different skills needed in order to undertake these tasks (not forgetting those associated with looking after your guests and customers properly). ACTIVITY Write down all the skills required for one of the tasks in your own or planned business enterprise. This will help you to build up a profile of the skills needed and begin to identify which types of staff you need in your business. Many of these tasks you will be able to do yourself, however there will be peak times when you will need help or assistance to get all the work done. You need to plan ahead for these times so that you have the help at the times and the places when you need it most! ¾ expect the unexpected Remember also that things will not always go according to your plans and unexpected opportunities or problems may occur so it is a good idea to prepare contingency plans just in case. Consider carefully where you might get extra staff from in a hurry. Family or friends may be able to help out at short notice for a short time, or there may be Agencies in your area supplying temporary staff - at a price premium. Colleges too may have students looking for part time or casual work but do take care especially where there are statutory laws in place - such as food hygiene certificates or minimum age standards e.g. for bar work. | ROUTES: Business skills 107 UNIT | 4 | HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES ¾ pattern of labour needed Your work plan should also take account of weekly and daily patterns of labour demand. This is particularly important if you will need to employ people for more than 8 hours per day e.g. in an all day kitchen or a visitor attraction open from morning till night. When planning your labour requirements take account of where this labour might come from. Are there available staff in the area with the required skills. This is especially relevant in busy tourist areas where demand for staff is high during peak summer months. Staff may be available during the quieter months but may also family commitments during summer and other school holidays. Similarly weekend staff may be difficult to find and retain when family ties mean staff are needed elsewhere. ¾ seasonal / weekly / daily trends in labour required Daily patterns of labour requirements must also be considered carefully. Staff with family may be available during their children's school hours whilst younger (or older) people may be available earlier in the day or later in the evenings. If good staff are in short supply it may be worth considering scheduling your work to coincide when these better staff are available. Action point:Use examples drawn from a bed and breakfast and a craft shop to demonstrate how labour requirement patterns vary throughout the day Skills analysis Undertaking a job or task skills analysis will help you identify clearly what skills and/or knowledge will be required to undertake that job or perform the task. | Routes: Business skills 108 UNIT | 4 | HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES In doing this analysis you will also be part of the way towards profiling the types of person you need to employ for that task. this is very helpful when it comes to advertising for an employee since you will have to carefully describe the job and define the personal characteristics of the future employee in order to ensure you attract the right applicants and don't waste your time and theirs. Action point: identify a task or a job within your company or that you have experience of and try to describe in detail all the activities of the job in one column in the other list the skills required in order to undertake these activities. job/task activities skills required ¾ skills analysis Just as it is important to try to employ staff with the best fit of skills to those required in a job, it is also important to recognise that jobs change and that staff may need to acquire new skills in order to complete new roles effectively. Staff may also wish to progress to new roles within your company or take on new responsibilities. It may also be necessary to undertake a training needs analysis periodically in order to ensure staff have all the right skills for your changing workplace. This can be done relatively simply at the level of | ROUTES: Business skills 109 UNIT | 4 | HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES the individual staff member by discussing with them their current level of skills and competence in carrying out the tasks required in the new role and comparing this with the relative importance of this skill in any new role. The following table called a snake can be used to help quantify this relationship: Job title......................................... job task list 5 = high; 1 = low personal skills level 1 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 Priority importance of task in undertaking job 1 2 3 4 5 5 4 3 2 1 2 5 4 3 2 1 5 4 3 2 1 3 5 4 3 2 1 5 4 3 2 1 4 5 4 3 2 1 5 4 3 2 1 Where personal skills are low (1) but priority is high (5) then ¾ labour availability it may be that within your family there are unused labour resources which could assist you in your new enterprise. It might be more effective in the longer term to train your family or relatives since they are possibly going to remain in the business/enterprise for longer than an employee. Such surplus labour however may only be available at certain times e.g. evenings which may be ideal for bar work or extending production times. However just because they are family does not mean they should not have access to appropriate training. Family and friends are also a source of labour if you need them in a hurry and may be prepared to help for the short term. Similarly there are a number of temporary staffing agencies or a local college may | Routes: Business skills 110 UNIT | 4 | HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES have students looking for part time and evening work to supplement their grants/loans. You should always take care however if legislation applies e.g. food hygiene certificates or a minimum age applies e.g. bar work. ¾ pattern of labour needed Your work plan should also take account of the weekly and daily patterns of labour demand. This is particularly important if you will need to employ people for more than 8 hours per day e.g. with kitchen staff where you plan to provide breakfast, lunch and evening meal or in a visitor attraction open from morning till evening. When planning your labour requirements take account of where this labour might come from. Are there sufficient available staff in the area with the required skills, this is especially relevant in a busy tourist area where demand for staff is high during the summer months. Staff may be available during the quieter months but may also have family commitments during summer school holidays. Similarly weekend staff may be difficult to find and retain where family ties mean they are needed elsewhere. daily patterns of labour must be considered carefully, staff with family may only be available during the children's school hours whilst younger or older people may be available early in the day and evenings. Where good staff are in short supply it may be worth scheduling the more challenging tasks at times when skilled staff are available. | ROUTES: Business skills 111 UNIT | 4 | HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES 4:2 RECRUITMENT Recruiting the right staff Staffing of any tourism or craft small business is one of the most important aspects of business management. Since so much of your business will be done in a face to face situation and interpersonal skills plays such a central role in every interaction with customers your success as a company will depend upon YOU and YOUR STAFF even your part time staff. Getting the right staff to do the job is crucial There are broadly speaking five elements to recruiting the right staff for the right job:1. You will need an up-to-date and accurate job description 2. You should use the job description to work out the type of person you need for the job 3. You need to think about how you will advertise the job position 4. You will need to interview candidates for the job 5. You will need to make a job offer to your chosen candidate Job description It is tempting when running a small or micro business to say that since it is so small with only a few staff that there is no need for job descriptions. The advantage of a job description is that it clearly defines and identifies the roles and responsibilities of each of your staff. This allows you to better manage your business and as a result your staff will have a greater sense of belonging to your company. | Routes: Business skills 112 UNIT | 4 | HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES When you have a vacancy a job description helps you to more clearly define and specify the type of person you are looking for. You will be able to provide enquirers and potential applicants with a copy of the job description which helps them to determine whether this vacancy is what they are looking for. They will be better able to match their skills and knowledge to what they will be expected to do in the post thus making it easier for them to decide whether they should apply. This should reduce irrelevant applications and reduce the amount of time taken in selecting the right person for the job or applicants for interview. A job description normally contain certain key pieces of information:¾ the title of the job (it is important to get the wording right otherwise you may attract the wrong applicants or fail to attract those that you are looking for) ¾ the person to whom the post holder will be reporting/responsible ¾ a general description of the job and its responsibilities ¾ a longer list of the main or specific tasks It is good practice once the post has been filled to spend time with the new employee going through the job description in more detail and agree the main tasks, responsibilities and reporting requirements. Here is a sample job description for a person required to help serve in a bar: Sample job description Job Title: Bar person | ROUTES: Business skills 113 UNIT | 4 | HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES Reports to: Manager General Job Outline: to operate a full bar service to customers Specific tasks:The Bar Person will: ¾ greet customers in a welcoming manner ¾ take customers orders, ensuring that alcoholic drinks are served in accordance with the law ¾ pour/mix drinks for customers in accordance with laid down procedures ¾ enter the correct prices or codes into the cash till, inform customers of the amount due, receive payment and give customers the correct change ¾ clear and clean tables in accordance with company standards ¾ wash glasses and dispose of any damages ¾ maintain drink an mixer stock levels ¾ keep bar and associated areas clean, tidy and ready for use ¾ undertake any other duties as are required by the Manager Now prepare a similar job description a the job/post in your company ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ Working out the type of person you require:If you have a job description for the vacant post, it should be fairly easy to identify the type of person you will require. | Routes: Business skills 114 UNIT | 4 | HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES Using the example of the job description for the bar person we showed above we could prepare the following list of requirements for the most suitable person in terms of experience, skills and personal qualities. List of skills and qualities required for a bar work person: ¾ previous experience of work in a public bar ¾ knowledge of laws governing sale of alcoholic drinks (licensing laws) ¾ knows how to mix/pour drinks ¾ able to take and remember orders ¾ able to check beer levels ¾ able to operate cash register ¾ has a good standard of personal hygiene ¾ has a welcoming attitude and manner ¾ is a good communicator ¾ is interested in working with the general public ¾ is able and willing to work shifts and unsocial hours now prepare a similar list of skills and qualities related to the job description you prepared for your post:¾ ¾ ¾ Advertising a job vacancy Before you write a job advertisement you should always consider where you intend to place it. This will determine how long it can be, | ROUTES: Business skills 115 UNIT | 4 | HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES the style of writing, the size of text you can use, how much detail you will be able to put into it and lastly the cost of the advert. You should also be careful about legal aspects of wording relating to equal opportunities: gender, race, religion etc. There are a number of ways to place advertising and the following are some examples ranked according to cost: Cheap ¾ job centre ¾ local shops/supermarket/post office ¾ local career service ¾ local college or university ¾ circulating around friends/relatives ¾ a notice in your door/window More expensive ¾ local weekly newspaper - modest cost ¾ local recruitment paper (maybe free or modest cost) ¾ internet sites (maybe free or modest cost) ¾ national newspaper (bigger audience but more costly) A basic job advertisement should contain sufficient information to enable applicants to make rational decisions about whether the job is for them. Here is an example of a job advert for seasonal guides in a tourist visitor attraction:- VISITOR GUIDES WITH EXCELLANT COMMUNICATION SKILLS required to conduct parties around historic house from May to September. Please apply in writing by xx/xx/xxxx to the Administrator, The Big House, Any Town, Scotland, YZ12 9AB. | Routes: Business skills 116 UNIT | 4 | HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES Checklist for preparing job descriptions ¾ clearly identify your company or business ¾ clearly write the job title ¾ say where the job is located ¾ provide the following job details: ¾ responsibilities of the job ¾ the period of the contract and hours of work ¾ how applicants should apply or make contact with you Always check:¾ basic facts are correct ¾ they are written in such a way they attract interest ¾ the text is concise and not too wordy ¾ it is clear what the applicants should do next. If the job involves significant responsibility (e.g. cash or line management of other staff) or working with confidential information you might want to ask for character references from previous employers or people who know the applicants well (e.g. school/college/university Tutors). This could be in the form of a letter from one of the above submitted by the applicant with their application or a confidential reference sent by the Referee directly to you. In the case of the latter you should ask applicants for names and addresses of people willing to act as Referee and write directly to the Referees requesting this information. Interviews and interviewing candidates Selecting for interview Use the skills and personal attributes list prepared earlier to sort the applicants into lists of suitable and unsuitable candidates. From the suitable list select those most closely fitting the criteria you set for | ROUTES: Business skills 117 UNIT | 4 | HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES the job and prepare a manageable list for interview. Most employers like to interview about 3 or 4 candidates per post. Inviting them for interview Select a suitable date in the immediate future bearing in mind that they might have to make arrangements to be free to attend. Contact each by telephone or letter inviting them for an interview. It is important to include clear instructions giving the following information: where to come, when to come, who to ask for and what to expect e.g. do you want them to make a short presentation? At the interview (First impressions count) When the interviews occur, even if you decide early on a chosen candidate remember that each following candidate is hoping to get the job so give them all a good interview, it helps their morale and if at a later date another position comes up they may again be a suitable candidate. Try to make the candidates comfortable, try also to make a good impression on the candidates it will make them more confident about you as an employer. Prepare a checklist to help make interviews go more smoothly:¾ arrange for candidates to arrive a little bit early and offer them a cup of tea/coffee before the interview starts ¾ arrange for someone to meet each candidate or do it yourself and show them where to sit and wait for their interview ¾ arrange for you not to be disturbed, e.g. turn off your office telephone and mobile phone, have someone intercept all visitors and colleagues. Put a notice on your door saying why you are busy. ¾ clearly introduce yourself and also others on the interview panel | Routes: Business skills 118 UNIT | 4 | HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES ¾ use a warm, friendly and encouraging tone of voice ¾ start the interview with simple questions for example about their travel arrangements to get to the interview. This will help candidates relax and be more comfortable with you and the room. Interview Questions The questions you ask at interview are very important as the answers you receive (in addition to any information given to you in application letters) will provide you with the information you need to select the most appropriate candidate for the job. It is important to ask each candidate broadly similar questions so that you can more easily compare their strengths and weaknesses. There are also legal issues relating to equal opportunities which you should be aware of in particular relating to gender equality. Questions to ask:The following is a check list of questions you could ask which provide basic information about most candidates. Some questions may not be appropriate to all candidates or job situations. 1. Personal Information (to save time you could request this before the interview) ¾ age ¾ marital status ¾ general health ¾ educational background ¾ any job specific qualifications (e.g. food hygiene) 2. Vocational and work background ¾ What work are you doing at the moment? ¾ What do you do in this work? | ROUTES: Business skills 119 UNIT | 4 | HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES ¾ What other jobs have you had? ¾ What did you learn from the jobs you have had? ¾ What aspects of this work did you like best? ¾ What aspects did you like least? ¾ What problems did this work present and how did you overcome these problems? ¾ Why do you wish to leave your current job? 3. The current job vacancy ¾ Why did you apply for this job? ¾ What experience do you have in this field of work (you should refer at this point to the job description)? ¾ What job specific training (and qualifications if not covered above) have you had recently? ¾ Here is a situation you might encounter in this job.......(describe a scenario e.g. a difficult customer, crisis situation or other work related problem). What would you do if you were faced with such a situation? ¾ If you were offered the job what help or support do you think you will require, at least in the initial stages. 4. Social aspects ¾ Describe what hobbies and other interests you have ¾ What is it about these activities which interests you? Closing the interview. The following are important aspects you should cover before completing the interview. ¾ Ask candidates if they have any questions. Answer these as fully as you can. ¾ Provide information on conditions of employment e.g. rates of pay, hours of work, holiday entitlement, starting date. | Routes: Business skills 120 UNIT | 4 | HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES ¾ What notice must they give to their current employer, when could they start the job if it was offered to them. ¾ Ask if candidates would accept the job if it was offered ¾ Give a date when decisions about the job will be taken and when they could expect to hear. ¾ If appropriate tell them that appointments will be conditional on satisfactory references and obtain permission to approach referees. Making the job offer When you make the job offer to the successful candidate (whether in person, by telephone or in writing) you are in effect entering into a contract with them. European Employment law lays down strict criteria on providing contracts and conditions of service, as an employer you should be aware of all the requirements of this law. Letters offering employment should provide an outline of the main terms of the contract and an example is given below (the post of Visitor Guide is used as a basis):Dear............ Visitor Guide I am pleased to offer you a position as a Visitor Guide at The Big House from 1st May to 29th September 200x. The salary is £150 per week (payable weekly) and the hours of work are............ I would be grateful if you would sign and return the acceptance form below as soon as possible. I look forward to seeing you here on 1st may at 09.00 hrs. Yours sincerely ................................ | ROUTES: Business skills 121 UNIT | 4 | HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES Acceptance Form for the post of Visitor Guide, The Big House. I accept the position of Visitor Guide at The Big House, at the stated salary of 150 Euro per week. I understand this is on a fixed-term contract basis, from 1st May to 29th September 200x. Signature: ................................ Date: ................................... 4:3 TRIAL PERIODS For some jobs it may be a good idea to start staff on a trial period in order to determine whether they are suited to the job. This is especially the case where jobs are difficult or where particular skills are required and you are providing this training on-the-job. It will be important for both you to fully explain the arrangement to your new employee so that he or she understands that performance will be evaluated at the end of the trial period. Criteria for this evaluation should be clearly detailed and the methods for evaluating whether these criteria have be achieved should be fully transparent. 4:4 HOW TO KEEP GOOD STAFF Recruitment and training of staff is a very expensive and time consuming task. It has been estimated in Scotland that it can cost companies between 1,200 Euro and 3,500 Euro to lose a member of staff and recruit and train another one. It therefore pays to keep good staff and in this section we look at ways to retain and motivate them. | Routes: Business skills 122 UNIT | 4 | HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES Meeting the needs of staff The first step should be to meet the needs of staff in the workplace. As people we all have similar drives and needs, these are termed our motivators. As we grow older these may change with our developing lives and may be different from those at an earlier stage. Some examples of motivators are:¾ Financial security ¾ Respect from others ¾ Satisfaction from doing a good job ¾ Status and power ¾ Challenge, ambition or learning something new (although not all of us will have these at all stages of our lives). As employers we can help to stimulate our staff motivation however there is only so much we can do in this respect. Motivation must come from within a person and as an employer or manager you can create a climate within which this motivation can be developed through helping to meet staff needs. Some things you can do to support and encourage motivation include, recognising staff achievement,, giving of responsibility to appropriate staff, operating fair practice, training and staff development. These will go a long way to gaining commitment from staff and support from them to continuously improve their own performance. It has been shown from research and example that management by threat does not motivate people in the longer term. Sitting along with staff, working with them, recognising their needs and keeping them informed are great motivators. | ROUTES: Business skills 123 UNIT | 4 | HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES Working to standards What are standards and why work to them? Standards are set by customer expectation, Tourists especially expect increasingly high standards of presentation and companies if they are going to get repeat business must meet these expectations. In order to meet these standards companies must set their own standards of product presentation, regardless of whether you are producing goods or services. For example a provider of tourist accommodation would expect her bedrooms to be clean and tidy with towels and bed linen folded and presented in the correct way. In order to achieve this the staff must be:¾ trained in the ways in which the rooms are to be prepared and the standards expected ¾ continually supported to maintain these standards Standards are important since if you do not set standards for your employees to work to, you are likely to get poor and variable work in return. You will only have yourself to blame. Setting appropriate and achievable standards for employees will encourage pride in your workforce. They will take encouragement from achieving these and especially if praised by you will be motivated to maintain these standards. This in turn will be good for your business. How to identify standards There are a number of ways in which you can identify the standards to which you expect your staff to work. | Routes: Business skills 124 UNIT | 4 | HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES Firstly it is important for you to identify areas of their work where performance standards are relevant Secondly you can link standards to the tasks you identified within your employers job descriptions Thirdly you can use published standards issued by the various associations operating within your industry sector e.g. "Quality Service Guides" are issued by the UK Tourist Boards. Other organisations operate quality standards for catering, customer care and working with the public. Examples of Standards in the tourism related area might include:1. Operational tasks ¾ response time for customer enquiries (e.g. brochures will be posted within 24hrs) ¾ frequency with which tasks are undertaken (e.g. public area toilets are cleaned twice daily) ¾ product quality especially those items for public sale ¾ information given to customers will be 100% accurate ¾ operational safety (all equipment will be used in accordance with manufacturers written procedures) ¾ staff appearance (e.g. staff in contact with customers will at all times have a standard dress and clean tidy appearance) ¾ staff attitudes (e.g. staff will be helpful to customers; staff will at all times check for damages and report any they find) ¾ wastage (e.g. the amount of waste is to be reduced by x% over x months) 2. Customer care | ROUTES: Business skills 125 UNIT | 4 | HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES ¾ Customers are dealt with in a polite and helpful manner at all times ¾ Staff are sympathetic to the perceived need and feelings of customers ¾ Complaints are acknowledged immediately and attended to without delay ¾ Customer health and safety is given highest priority at all times. Prepare your own list of standards for your business (use the above where appropriate) ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ To monitor the above you should prepare a checklist and regularly do a "health check" of standards for each section of your business. The following check list gives some examples of questions you might include:Health Check questions Notes Do my staff look clean and tidy? Do staff show sensitivity to the needs of customers? Do staff look as if they genuinely like people? | Routes: Business skills 126 UNIT | 4 | HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES Are response times to customer needs and to events appropriate? Are staff working procedures the most efficient? Is the working environment welcoming, clean and tidy etc? Is the customer environment welcoming, are there any distractions which might reduce the pleasure of customers? Providing Staff Feedback Feedback is used here to describe the range communications between you and your staff. It is most often used by managers to communicate their feelings following an event and as such can be highly motivating for staff if used carefully and sympathetically. If a member of staff has undertaken a task well, performed to a high standard or taken on duties above those normally required then this should be acknowledged. A sincere "thank you" or "well done" is a good motivator not only to them but also to the other staff who will see that good work is appreciated. The occasional gift is also a good idea especially if associated with a piece of outstanding work. Remember that feedback can also go in both directions, a good manager will also seek information from their staff about how the business could be improved and more effectively managed. Feedback can be used for:| ROUTES: Business skills 127 UNIT | 4 | HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES ¾ Motivating staff ¾ Ensuring a member of staff knows a change in behaviour is required (and why this should be) ¾ Providing information ¾ Confirming that a message has been received and understood ¾ Letting feelings be known 4:5 DEVELOPING YOUR STAFF Throughout this section of the course we have stressed the need for you to employ the best possible staff. In this part we will look at the subject of how to continually develop their skills. In order to identify the development needs of your staff it is important to have clearly identified their job responsibilities and this was covered earlier in this course. Identifying staff development needs This is one of the key aspects of effectively managing your business. This process may involve one or more of a number of techniques some of which include:- ¾ Observing staff at their work place ¾ Noting how they undertake work tasks e.g. customer interaction, bedroom preparation ¾ Trying staff out in new work roles ¾ Analysing problems within the company ¾ Identifying whether standards are being achieved ¾ Listening to staff ideas on improving the business ¾ Undertaking regular staff development reviews. | Routes: Business skills 128 UNIT | 4 | HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES When was the last time you use any of the above techniques to identify the development needs of any of your staff? What if anything have you done in recent years about identifying development needs of your staff? Remember to always refer to the staff members job description when considering their performance in job tasks. Developing staff This will frequently involve staff undertaking some form of learning. There are various forms or modes of learning and these include:¾ In the work place ¾ At a training centre, school or college ¾ Distance learning (on paper or via computer) All forms of learning will require some time away from the job in order for the staff member to undertake the learning although this will vary depending upon the mode and the nature of the actual learning. Whilst doing this you may need to have some cover from Colleagues or extra staff brought in for that time. Learning in the workplace may involve less time away from the business but may require more supervision of the learner by senior staff. This commitment must be fulfilled by senior staff otherwise learners can become easily disillusioned. Learning at training centres etc. is more common but involves staff being away from the workplace for periods of time often, for full days. Their time must be covered from within the business or by bringing in extra cover for the time they are away. Expecting staff to catch up | ROUTES: Business skills 129 UNIT | 4 | HOW TO DEVELOP YOURSELF AND YOUR EMPLOYEES with their work after they return can lead to resentment and again disillusioned staff. Distance learning is becoming increasingly popular especially with micro-businesses where it is difficult to release staff for full days. Staff can pick up their learning at times suited to themselves and if given support can also continue during their own time at home or during break periods. It will be important for you consider the implications of all the above on the running of your business when staff undertake development courses. Not only do training programmes cost money but providing appropriate support may also have resourcing implications for your business. Implementation of learning Following up the training with support to the member of staff who has completed the training is just as important as providing the training in the first place. It is vital that staff are given opportunities to implement the learning and that this is seen and approved by yourself and senior staff. Often this learning will have implications for you as a manager in terms of the ways in which you run your business, your standards or operating procedures. It is important that you sit down with staff and discuss how what they have learned can be used to benefit them in the ways they are working and what benefits there may be to the business. Finally don't forget that learning is not a once and for all time activity. There will be continual need for staff development, not least because the tourist related industry is continually changing. | Routes: Business skills 130
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