Hotel recognized for dedication to employees

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An emphasis on workplace training and literacy has helped a First Nation-owned hotel win two high profile honors.

On March 14, the La Ronge Motor Hotel, which is fully owned by the Lac La Ronge Indian Band, was named Business of the Year by Tourism Saskatchewan. And, on April 15, the Conference Board of Canada will present the hotel with the 2003 Small Business Award for Excellence in Workplace Literacy.

When he arrived at the hotel in 1997, general manager Clarence Neault brought with him a long history in the hospitality industry and, more importantly, a passion for apprenticeship, certification and workplace training. His timing proved excellent. The local Northlands College literacy program, under Bebe Ivanochko, was going strong, and the government was already investing money into workplace education programs.

As well, Neault's superiors with Kitsaki Management, the band's business arm, were supportive of any efforts to improve employee capability.

"Training local people to (acquire) the skills required for industry standard, the model is right there from the band," said Neault. "There was no resistance."

Where Neault did run into problems was in dealing with attitudes from people outside the band administration.

"The motivating factor (for the training emphasis) was the prevailing notion that it couldn't be done," he said. "The attitude seemed to be to blame the employees for skill shortages and lack of work ethic, rather than adding education to solve the problem."

Rejecting that notion, Neault started applying for government training dollars, much of which came attached to literacy projects. Initially, he thought he was manipulating the literacy programs to get funding for his workplace training initiatives; however, he soon realized that literacy was, in fact, "the missing link" for many of his employees. Basic language and math skills soon worked their way into Neault's in-house training plans.

Amongst the hotel's initiatives were a pair of training videos, produced locally and aimed at housekeepers and restaurant staff, and the WOLF Project. WOLF (Workplace Open Learning Fulfillment) was a multi-year initiative in which housekeeping staff studied together to acquire the basic literacy and work-related skills needed to become nationally certified housekeeping attendants.

With the success of the WOLF Project, the pride and pleasure that the housekeeping staff has taken in their accomplishment is rubbing off on other staff. While a manager can preach the benefits of training all he or she wants, said Neault, they also have to keep in mind the power position they are in, controlling an employee's hours, dress, etc. If training is seen as just another manager-imposed idea, "they're not going to buy into that," he said. "It's only human nature (to resist)."

However, once a "learning culture" is established, as it was amongst the housekeeping staff, it's much easier for others to buy in, Neault said. Now that the learning model has been established in the housekeeping department, his next step is to start training the managers in his other 11 departments, so that they can subsequently train their own staff.

"Rather than bring managers from outside, (the hotel's approach) is 'grow your own,'" Neault said.

Looking again at the attitude of blame that spurred him to pursue this training model, Neault's frustration spills over. "There is no difference (between northern Aboriginal workers and their white counterparts)," he said. "They're just workers."

The only difference, in fact, is exposure to training and opportunity, and now they're receiving those things, Neault said.

"Once the partners-the employees-were on board, their commitment (to the benefits of workplace training) was unwavering."