When IKEA decided to open several new stores around the country, its expansion plans highlighted a need for maintenance workers to have extra skills. The expansion also called for the creation of benchmarks to make sure that skill sets at the company’s three retail sites reflected each other.
In response to these needs, a customised Learning and Development program which incorporated units from three separate Training Packages was developed for IKEA Maintenance Co-Workers. The program was delivered by TAFE NSW – Sydney Institute to maintenance employees at IKEA’s training facility in Rhodes, Sydney.
Employees from as far afield as Melbourne and Brisbane learned how to plan and implement maintenance schedules, and responsibly manage and source goods and services. Evaluation of contractors and legal issues surrounding contracts and agreements were covered, as well as technical skills such as reading and interpreting electrical drawings.
‘We put together a program with TAFE NSW to create a minimum standard for all three sites,’ said Richard Hynard, National Construction Manager, IKEA. ‘We needed uniformity in information for those sites and the ability to benchmark our maintenance people going forward.’
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Need to benchmark staff skills? |
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TAFE NSW tailors job-specific training for employers. |
Liliana Kingsland, Minor Works and Contracts Manager, IKEA, was one of the participants.
‘The course was very well put together and the teachers delivered it in a very relaxed and professional manner,’ she said. ‘I now have a great deal of confidence moving forward.’
Ms Kingsland said that the teachers adapted the delivery to suit the different abilities of each participant. Ms Kingsland has now begun a Diploma in Project Management at TAFE NSW, to further advance her career.
Bob Webb, training co-ordinator and Business Development Consultant, Sydney Institute, said adapting the course content was a challenge. ‘We took skill sets from not one but three training packages.
‘This required the expertise of our teaching staff, in particular the Management Studies and the Electrotechnology sections at Petersham, and Logistics and Real Estate at St George,’ he said.
Mr Hynard said further TAFE NSW training would be undertaken by IKEA. ‘We will have some new maintenance managers coming on board as we develop new stores and they will need training,’ he said. ‘We may even develop and expand it to embrace additional issues.
‘We chose TAFE NSW because it has well established links to industry and has been delivering job-specific training for employers for a very long time,’ Mr Hynard said.
