Training Workers in a Roller Coaster Economy

by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.

Often an afterthought, the need for structured on-the-job training is just as critical during a time of contraction as during a time of expansion. During cutbacks in staffing, work is redistributed to remaining employees as workers with expertise are inadvertently let go. Sometimes more attention is paid to worker seniority and wage levels than the potential loss of the accumulated investment in worker expertise and related replacement costs as a result of hasty workforce reductions.

Unfortunately, selling the need for an investment in a training infrastructure can be a harder sell to management who might be reluctant to make the case for fear of being perceived as being too “spend-happy” rather than seen as appropriately proactive. However, if no consideration is given to such planning that fact will subsequently reveal itself later in the form of transition costs – lost capacity and decreased operational productivity.

“How an organization prepares for change determines if they will survive it or succumb to it.”

It can be said that if the organization was running efficiently before a cutback, worker expertise must have helped since the numbers now show that output and yield have been reduced. If the organization was not running efficiently before the cutback, and cutting workers has little effect on output and yield, perhaps the reason was there was a lack of expertise in running operations. Either way, developing expertise and preserving it through adversity should be seen as worthy goals by any organization.

Many years ago, CEOs became concerned with “succession planning,” which was limited to only key managerial positions. As organizations made themselves leaner, the number of positions that should be considered for succession planning multiplied but often went unnoticed until a disruption in operations occurred – quickly exposing vulnerabilities and loss of organizational capacity.

In a 2007 (obviously before the Economic Crash of 2008) survey conducted by Innovations, a Boston-based global consulting and training firm and reported in SHRM Online, of 2,046 respondent companies:

• Only 4 percent of their organizations had a formal process of transferring knowledge from retiring boomers to other employees;
• Twenty-three percent had an informal process;
• Twenty-nine percent did not have a process but planned to implement one;
• Forty-four percent did not have a process nor had plans for one.

Given the fact that the survey implied it was considering an orderly transition as baby-boomers retired, most likely a layoff or staffing cutback heightened the vulnerability. Fast-forward to 2021, now much has changed.

There are a several key challenges to maintaining staffing levels with qualified individuals: 1) Shortage of skilled replacements (internally and externally); 2) Lead-time to develop replacements; 3) Transient nature of workforce; 4) Materials (“system”) in-place to assist learning; 5) Costs of inaccurate selection, training and evaluation of replacements; 6) “Sense of urgency.” Being aware of these potential obstacles makes it easier to formulate a strategy to avoid or manage them.

Some components of a “vulnerability assessment” plan might include:

1. Determine which current employees, below the management and supervisory levels, would have a significant impact on operations if they separated from the organization for any reason (ranked on a 1-5 basis,  with 5 having devastating consequences;
2. Of the employees ranked 3 – 5, identify internal replacements that could quickly assume the tasks of those individuals (assuming of course that in doing so they would not create a collateral disruption);
3. If the answer to 2 is no one or one person marginally, the next question is whether the position has been proceduralized for “best-practices” or is the organization relying on “tribal knowledge;”
4. If the answer to 3 is tribal knowledge, task-based best practice procedures should be developed immediately, especially prior to any anticipated contraction using subject matter experts before they leave.  With a little more effort, these procedures can be developed a little further to become a structured on-the-job training program for the “accelerated transfer of expertise^TM.” At a minimum, these procedures enhance compliance with ISO, IATF, AS or any other quality program with regard to the requirement for “…workers being trained to procedures” and will support LEAN and other process improvement programs;
5. Make an effort to reevaluate your organization’s succession plan every 2 years, if not more frequently, and take comfort in knowing what you need to do if faced with these types of decisions.

Taking these few, but strategic, steps can help prepare your organization for serious disruptions in capacity and operational productivity. How an organization prepares for change determines if they will survive it or succumb to it.

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