Companies adopt different policies regarding the training of their employees. Some seek to hire people who have already taken specific courses and trained independently, while others seek to develop their team internally, offering specialized training and even setting up corporate universities.
Thus, the training decision can come directly from the employee, or it can come from the management levels of the specific area of the company in which the employee is allocated, or it can still come from the company's HR policies.
In the Logistics area, the survey carried out by ILOS in the last International Supply Chain Forum showed that a large number of Brazilian companies offer courses for their staff, with the immediate superior being most responsible for selecting priority courses.
Figure 1 – Investment by companies in training their teams
Source: ILOS (survey conducted with logistics executives at the 2015 International Supply Chain Forum)
Companies that choose to adopt a corporate training policy generally aim to maintain a qualified and motivated workforce, since offering courses is a great attraction for retaining people and an excellent generator of qualified teams.
The preparation of a Training Plan is the best way for companies to decide which training should be prioritized. A Training Plan aims to identify which skills are required for each function, checking which ones employees have the most deficiencies, thus prioritizing the courses to be offered. The elaboration of this plan is a project that involves both the leaders and the professionals who will be trained.
Briefly, the steps for preparing a Training Plan are:
1. List of skills required for each role
For example, the team that deals with transport must know the topics: transport costs, performance indicators, logistics outsourcing, fleet management, tax logistics, project management, among others.
2. Classification of how important each of the skills is for each role
For example, a scale of 1 to 3 can be adopted, where 3 is an Essential competence, 2 is a Desirable competence, and 1 is a Timely competence.
3. Identification of the team's CURRENT level of knowledge in each of the competencies
Mapping the current level of the team can be done through a self-assessment of the employee, and also through the manager's assessment of the performance of his team.
4. Definition, together with the leaders, of the DESIRABLE level of the team in each of the competencies
For example, it is necessary to define whether the team that performs a certain function must have a basic knowledge of Excel, or advanced Excel with the creation of macros in VBA.
5. Prioritization of skills to be developed
The competences to be developed must be those classified as Essential and also those with the greatest development gap, that is, those where the current level of the team is farther from what is desirable.
6. Description of the priority training program to be developed by the company for its employees
The team training menu is the final result of the Training Plan. From there, the company will be able to define whether it will offer in-company courses, or whether it will send its employees to participate in open courses offered in the market. It is also the company's prerogative to decide whether the courses will be face-to-face or online, and how often they will be offered.
Figure 2 – Example of prioritizing skills in a Training Plan
Source: ILOS
Training Plans should be reviewed periodically, especially after priority courses have been offered. This is because the courses delivered may have addressed key employee training deficiencies, thus shifting training priorities for the next round of courses to be delivered to staff.