Call for more training in workplace

Mon, September 06, 2010 - 12:45 PM

MORE TRAINING equals better production.

This was the assessment by members of the audience and panellists during a recent panel discussion at the launch of Neilson Waithe’s book, Understanding the Caribbean Worker – Service, Sensitivity And Culture at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.

The panel comprised Barbados Workers’ Union general secretary Sir Roy Trotman, Barbados Hotel & Tourism Association executive vice-president Sue Springer, Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry chairman Andy Armstrong, and Akhentoolove Corbin, lecturer in the Department of Management Studies at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies.

Also supporting increased training for workers at all levels was Minister of Labour Dr Esther Byer-Suckoo. She told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY that she too welcomed the idea of more training in the workplace.

“We are trying to emphasise that, especially now, it is important or employers to invest more in their employees . . . training in terms of service delivery, customer relations, personal development training. Those are things that we believe the workplace needs to do and I think that now is an ideal time to do it, in the recession,” said Byer-Suckoo.

However, while noting that training should be of great importance, Armstrong noted that “it could be challenging” since most companies in Barbados were small.

Regarding the quality of work and service provided by Barbadian workers to fellow citizens, Corbin said Barbados could borrow from other models around the world.

“I think the issue might be the political leadership that would not allow the professional public servants to do their job. And maybe if we borrowed from the Singapore model . . . we would actually see the cultural change,” he said. (MM)