Companies need that the personnel who carry out work that may affect the quality of their products or the services they provide, have the appropriate skills. These competences can be acquired through a formal educational process, or through training directly in the company, experience may be a factor that indicates that such competence is available.
The purpose of establishing competencies is to find out whether or not people are capable of doing what is expected of them.
For this, it is necessary to first establish who will do what. Competition should not be required only of those people who are directly involved in the realization of the product, there are other positions in which the people who perform it must also be competent (for example, purchasing, planning or customer relations).
A special case is in small companies where almost everyone can influence in some way the quality of the product or the provision of the service.
A competence is conceived as the combination of adequate education, training, skills and experience, which in one way or another must be demonstrable. A person is not required to have all four qualities, but only those that are necessary for a specific task. When a person is assigned to a particular job, the skills they will need for their development must be considered, probably training is identified as an option to develop the necessary skills.
Determining the necessary competency for staff is not enough, but training or other actions must be provided to meet those needs. Once the training has been provided, it is important to evaluate the effectiveness of what has been done and ensure that the staff is aware of the importance of their activities and how they contribute to the achievement of the company's objectives.
You should regularly assess the current experience, training, skills and abilities of your staff with respect to the skills and abilities that the company will need in the future. By comparing your staff's current competency with what is needed, you will be conducting a competency analysis. It is necessary to fill the gaps through training, or by hiring external personnel, either permanently or temporarily.
If you decide to train your own staff, they will need to gain training and experience before they can be considered competent. For a small business, it may be appropriate to organize training sessions for the entry of new staff (including part-time and temporary employees) as well as for full-time employees. Such training could include:
- Nature of business Hygiene, safety and environmental standards Quality policy and other internal policies New employee role Specific procedures and instructions for each job.
It may be useful to plan the training so that it can be developed in stages. This plan could consist of a training period followed by a familiarization period, which would alternate, successively. If your company is certified under ISO 9000 or is thinking about becoming certified, training in quality techniques, particularly in internal audit, is highly recommended to take full advantage of the possibilities that quality management can bring to your company..
Training can be given at the workplace, within the company or somewhere outside it. Depending on the topics, a personal development program or simply attending a seminar may be advisable. As an alternative to training, you can employ someone who has the necessary skills or outsource / outsource the activity.
It is necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of the actions taken. For example:
- Have you chosen the right training course? Has training been well understood? Is this training directly applicable at work?
It is not enough to simply deliver (and record) training; You also have to evaluate it. Certain tasks may require a specific level of proficiency before they can be adequately or safely performed (for example, internal quality audit, welding, or nondestructive testing). Personnel may need to be qualified for some tasks (for example, forklift or truck driving, or welding).
Records that summarize the successful completion of a training program and that proficiency has been demonstrated can be as simple or as complex as required. The records may consist of a form that the interested party signs to confirm that they can use certain equipment, carry out specific processes or follow certain procedures. The records should include an unequivocal statement that a person can be considered competent to perform the task for which they have been trained. The effectiveness of any additional training should be reassessed after a time to confirm that the acquired competence is maintained.
Some jobs require specific training; for example, the operator of cranes, meters. Training should be delivered by individuals who possess the appropriate skills, qualifications, and experience. Courses in some subjects may need to be accredited by a regulatory body before training is recognized as sufficient.
