Partnership approach to training wins award

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If you stop in at the new Petro Canada gas bar and convenience store located on Broadway Street West in Yorkton, you can see for yourself the results of a partnership between Kahkewistahaw First Nation and Parkland Regional College.

The gas bar, owned and operated by Kahkewistahaw First Nation, opened for business May 1 and had its official opening on June 17. But long before they pumped their first tank of gas for a customer or rang in their first sale, the 18 employees of the Petro Canada began learning how to do their job s better.

The employees are taking part in a 21-week training program designed by the college to provide them with exactly the training they need, explained Kahkewistahaw gas bar manager Doug McRae.

"The program consisted of three weeks of class at the community college and then ongoing training here at the store," McRae said. "We structured it towards the needs of what we felt we would need for running a gas station and convenience store. But also we structured it for people who may not have a lot of work experience, coming into the work market or the workplace for the first time," he said.

Before any of the training even began, the employees were tested to ensure the program took into account their specific skill levels, an important step, given the range in age and experience of the employees.

"We had a three-week period that was just packed full of all kinds of things that you normally wouldn't get, so it was really customized," said Cheryl Kustra, a training consultant with Parkland College who co-ordinated the Kahkewistahaw gas bar's program. The training was developed under Job Start/Future Skills, a program that helps fund employee training for businesses filling new positions.

"We did all of the general workplace essential skills ... conflict management, document reading, numeracy, literacy, all those kinds of areas. Computers, interpersonal skills, teamwork and personality type, problem solving, time management, self-esteem, we did all of those. We also did Place the Customer Best, which is a customer service seminar," Kustra said.

The training included a presentation by the RCMP on fraud and safety and one by the fire department on how to deal with chemical fires and the proper use of fire extinguishers.

Employees even took a tour of Yorkton, courtesy of Yorkton Tourism and the Yorkton Chamber of Commerce, to help them answer questions about the community from visitors.

"We were looking for some way to get our people up to speed so that when we opened the door we weren't doing the training on day one and trying to sell product at the same time," McRae said about the decision to offer a training program to employees. "So that's when our conversations and our communications with the community college started. And, or course, that's what they do. They are the experts in training."

The successful training program was recently recognized by the Saskatchewan Labour Force Development Board, receiving a Training for Excellence Award in the Workplace Essential Skills Development category.