Implementing On-the-Job Training

QUESTION 5

Read the incident 8–2 (Implementing On-the-Job Training), and answer all of the

following questions.

a.    What, if anything, do you think the company should do to keep its young employees?

The company has been remiss in taking care of its young employees, that’s why most of them leave, feeling that they are not learning anything new from the company.  The idea of assigning them to a senior auditor is a good one. The only problem there is that their position is merely just for display purposes and they are not really given any challenging tasks where they could really sink in their teeth with and show what they are capable of.  With the present set-up, they are just relegated to run-of-the-mill tasks which are not challenging to them and therefore bore them.  Therefore, what the company can do to keep these young and talented employees is to allow the senior auditors to assign some of the more challenging tasks to these young employees, and then allow the senior auditors to train these young employees, and basically, include the performance of the young employee as part of the overall performance of the senior auditor.  That way, the senior auditor will be responsible for the actions and learnings of the young employee – and the young employee will feel that he or she is indeed part of the whole process, and not just a flower vase for decoration in the job they have applied for.

b.    Do you think on-the-job training will work in a situation such as the one described?

The idea of an on-the-job training in this case is fine.  The only problem here is the implementation since there is actually no teeth to this current set-up.  Yes, the idea of apprenticeship is good and works on paper, but the reality is, the senior auditors are not really guiding the young employees or making them an important part of the auditing process.  The young employees are just there like some mere decoration, instead of being a real asset to the company.  The company is actually losing out here since they already have this very talented young employees in their midst but they are not fully utilizing them, which is really a waste for both sides – the company and the young employees.

The idea of the on-the-job training can still be maintained but it can be upgraded into a mentorship programme where each senior auditor can serve as a mentor for the young employees.  This mentor-apprentice relationship can then solidify into an important training ground especially for the young employees – and at the same time, benefit the senior auditors since whatever the young employees can contribute to the work of the senior auditor is counted on the performance of the senior auditor.  So it’s a win-win situation for everyone.