Back
At a Glance
Confronted with a rise in errors in Works Orders and overpayment of contractors by newly hired Property Officers (POs), EM Services faced a challenge to tailor its training to prepare its new POs to be more competent. With the newly improved on-the-job training (OJT) plan based on adoption of technologies into the learning, newly hired POs are much more confident and competent in their roles. In support of this objective, the company embarked on a Learning Enterprise Alliance (LEA) project under the NACE@IAL initiative in 2020.Read on to find out more from Ms. Jenn Low, the Project Champion!
Achievements
It is through this project with NACE@IAL and our Certified Workplace Learning Specialist (CWLS), that I was able to witness the fruits of our labour coming alive. Some of the achievements in our workplace transformation project include:- Empowerment of newly hired POs to stipulate the job specifications and to issue Works Orders confidently and independently within just 3 months after the revised OJT program!
- Improvement in staff competencies that could be translated into positive business outcomes eg. better Annual Technical Audit Results with lesser errors.
- Development of a digital workplace learning programme that enables a ‘ just-in-time’ learning experience for employees
"We joined LEA to learn from the professionals in the area of workplace learning and designing, in order to bridge the performance and knowledge gaps of our new hires. To effectively develop our employees, there was an increasing need to identify and narrow the performance gap at the workplace, especially so with experienced employees retiring and an increase in fresh graduates without the experience and requisite know-how for the job."
- Mr. Soon Min Sin, Senior General Manager
"This program provides a more defined training for the new staff, by reducing onboarding time while simultaneously raising their confidence even as they embark on their new journey with EM Services. I am exhilarated to join the team and given the opportunity to contribute to the program."
- Ms. Jenn Low, Assistant Property Manager
Challenges
Prior to the project with NACE@IAL and our Learning Specialist, we were faced with higher error rates in the Works Orders issued by new POs. This may be attributed to lack of confidence and skills to handle the job tasks despite having completed the one-month OJT program.However, we also discovered that many of our new POs find the original training plan while broad-based, to be limited with insufficient information to guide them in the issuing of Works Orders for instance. It became evident to us that workplace learning interventions had to be put in place to address the shortcomings of our new POs in order to raise their confidence and competency.
Interventions
Noticing these performance and training gaps, we worked with IAL’ s Certified Workplace Learning Specialist to design a learning solution that would competently train our new POs:- The development and implementation of an OJT blueprint, from existing work processes, to provide guidance on the design and development of microlearning programmes.
- The development of micro-eLearning programmes, covering 16 topics, assessments, and site-visits, to enable new POs to easily track their learning progress
- The adoption of a 24/7 digital workplace learning programme to facilitate employees to leverage on the benefits of going digital and accessing training materials on demand.