The director of sow nursery production with HyLife says improved training programs have allowed the company dramatically reduce staff turnover and improve the morale of employees.
“Building an effective team” was discussed last week as part of the 2015 Banff Pork Seminar.
Richard Taillefer, the director of sow nursery production with HyLife, says once employees have been hired, it’s important to take the time to provide the training that will ensure they are very comfortable with what they’re doing and allows them to feel like they’re contributing to the team from day one of their employment.
Our training program, it does go into detail.
We do show videos and we do explain where they’re going to work.
Then when they do see it and then when we relay the knowhow or how to do things then it’s easier for them to relay because they have seen it on a video already.
The key factors is make sure that we take time and go into detail with the employees and make sure that we do that and then after every day ask the question to a new employee if they have any comments or any questions so they’re fully aware of what has to be done.
I know HyLife is a bigger company and has lots of sites but even though you’re smaller, make sure that you take the time to at least the first day to make them welcome and then to touch base every week with a phone call or another visit and just say how is it going and any questions and all of that.
We figure that that goes far with the employees’ comfort, with that person and they feel like they’re contributing to the team because somebody is taking five or ten minutes to give them a call every week just to see how it’s going.
Taillefer says, in 2014 versus 2013 as a result of its heightened focus on training, HyLife saw a 32 percent reduction in turn over of swine technicians.
