For skills-based industries, apprentice training has long been an integral part of developing a sustainable workforce and for Bassendean-based Verriers Engineering, it has been part of the company’s employment strategy for the past 25 years.
Verriers was last week named the WA small business of the year at the WA Training Awards 2010.
Kathy Verrier, who owns Verriers with her husband Craig, said the company was acknowledged for its innovative and diverse training programs for mature age apprentices, pre-apprentices and its general contribution to workforce development.
During the last boom, Verriers initiated an in-house mature age apprentice training scheme that would acknowledge prior learning of mature age workers as well as incentivise them to stay with Verriers by increasing traditional pay brackets.
Ms Verrier said the company recognised an untapped pool of labour in mature age apprentices and the initiatives Verriers put in place for them were then used in the state’s Transforming Trade Training program which was aimed at improving the relevance, convenience and flexibility of apprenticeships.
“It was for guys that traditionally didn’t have vocational pathways at high school and then went out and were only semi-skilled or had no skills that were being recognised,” Ms Verrier said.
“We would put them on as general hands and then put them through an apprenticeship program and fast track them.”
For the past 10 years Verriers has been involved in pre-apprenticeship programs and had linked in with local education bodies Swan Alliance and the Swan Education Industry Training Association.
“What we want is people who are going to complete their apprenticeship. By getting people from a pre-apprenticeship program or a VET pathway we know that they’re interested,” she said.
“They are likely to make a commitment and we want staff retention.”
Ms Verriers said the company also focuses on cross-skilling and cross-trading within the business and said while machinist, fitting and welding were traditionally separate apprenticeships, some of Verriers staff are skilled in all three areas.
“Within our own business there are dips and cycles. We can move our workforce around the workshop and cover many areas. It gives us a lot of flexibility,” she said.
Internally, Verriers focuses on employee training in order to contribute to its company-wide development and retention of staff.
Also recognised at the awards were Durack Institute of Technology as large training provider of the year and Chevron Australia as WA employer of the year.
