Factory employees who have been invested in will give back to their companies. If provided an opportunity to develop their skills, they will be able to perform their jobs more effectively and take on additional responsibilities. Importantly, they also tend to stay longer with employers who are invested in their wellbeing. This is a further major benefit in industries that are increasingly relying on specialist skills and experience and less so on general workers.
Employers can always recruit new employees by offering marginally higher wages. However, high churn rates create a cascade of indirect costs, including those related to recruitment and onboarding. Experienced employees have also acquired tacit knowledge and adapted to their company’s culture over time. This makes them more valuable than new employees.
They have, for example, overcome typical barriers that new employees will encounter at their workplace; forged strong professional relationships with other team members; and, in most instances, are exceptionally good at doing their jobs. Depending on their roles, it can take new employees up to two years to be fully productive.
These are among the benefits that GKD Africa, a leading South African manufacturer of mesh solutions for a variety of applications, continues to realise from its solid investment in upskilling employees.
A significant focus has been on ensuring that all employees, including members of its more than 100 employee-strong operational teams, are given opportunities to grow and develop their careers and as individuals. In this way, the company has firmly entrenched a culture of continuous improvement in the workplace – so much so that it is common practice for employees to approach management to participate in training and not the other way around.
For example, the demand for quality workplace adult basic education remains very high among GKD Africa employees, putting paid to the notion that engaging adults in basic education is difficult.
As GKD Africa continues to show, employees will participate in basic education training if they understand its relevance and receive the necessary support and motivation from their employers to do so. Certainly, the quality of education that is on offer is also another
important consideration. If employees see their colleagues excel in training because of the quality of tuition that they receive, they are more likely to also want to participate in the programmes on offer. Triple E Training has been GKD Africa’s preferred training provider for four years.
This is considering the company’s impressive track record equipping unskilled and low-skilled factory workers with foundational skills. These include those “soft” proficiencies that are becoming increasingly important in this digital era in which blue-collar work is being automated and mechanised. To effectively operate these technologies, employees need to be able to read and write, as well as have a solid grounding in basic mathematics. This also facilitates logical and critical thinking.
“More than 40 of our employees were completing various adult education and training (AET) levels, including literacy and numeracy instruction, as well as Rapid Accelerated Lifelong Learning (REALLL), in 2024. When we reopened after the December shutdown period, we were approached by an additional 15 employees who expressed a keen interest in also completing their basic education. They will be placed at suitable AET levels or the REALLL programme as and when existing learners complete their courses, bearing in mind that the GKD Group ABET School can only accommodate so many learners at any given point in time. We do not want to overcrowd classes as this will detract from the learning experience,” Daleen Rajzman, GKD Africa’s Human Resources Manager, says.
Then there are those GKD Africa employees who completed their courses last year who now want to continue learning. They gained a newfound respect and passion for learning while attending AET and REALLL classes. This also again demonstrates that blue-collar employees, who are often the most overlooked and underdeveloped resources in companies, want to develop their skills.
Therefore, Rajzman is working with Triple E Training to map the way forward for these staff members. It is not uncommon for individuals who have completed AET Level 4, for example, to aspire to learn for a Senior Certificate or register in vocational or occupational training at a National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Level 2. Those who have completed REALLL, which fast tracks the attainment of a NQF Level 4 qualification, have already been primed for more advanced academic, vocational or occupational learning pursuits.
Importantly, continuous learning enables employees to remain relevant in evolving industries. By constantly developing their skills, they are better equipped to embrace new digital technologies; sustainable business practices; and evolving safety protocols. In turn, this also improves companies’ adaptability to change.
In addition, upskilling and reskilling efforts directly improve job satisfaction. This is considering that knowledgeable employees excel in their jobs and are, therefore, valued by their employers. They also feel a sense of accomplishment and fulfilment when their skills are being used effectively. Employees who enjoy their jobs are also well aligned to their companies’ ethos, mission and vision statements, working in tandem to achieve business goals. This makes it easier for management to execute strategy.
Rajzman adds, “Most of the employees who have asked to participate in our AET programme want to do so because they believe that it will improve their circumstances. As adults, they realise the importance of a basic education. For example, some of our employees are single parents who want to increase their earning potential by being able to take on additional responsibility. Equipped with basic skills, they have the capacity to learn how to do more demanding work.
“Others even aspire to be successful entrepreneurs one day, but know that to do so, they need skills. Then there are those very ambitious employees who also want to climb the company ranks by studying other courses that will get them to where they want to be once their learning foundations are in place.”
Compensated for the time that they spend at the company after hours, employees attend classes at GKD Africa’s ABET School every Friday afternoon when their shifts end at 13h30. In order for them to undergo evaluation at the end of the courses, they need to have attended 90% of the lessons. The only exception to this requirement is if employees are unable to attend because they are seriously ill or on annual leave. This approach has ensured both high learner attendance and progression rate, with most employees typically completing an AET level in eight months.
To demonstrate commitment to the success of employees participating in the programme, company management also awards a small incentive for completing the course. This has also helped to keep employees motivated no matter how difficult it becomes. Certainly, Triple E Training’s awareness campaigns before training starts also ensure that employees are well prepared for what is to come. Its professional placement assessments also ensure employees seamlessly transfer from previous educational attainment into the workplace training programmes. This ensures that they can cope with the course content and are stimulated by the classes.
With the ABET school located on the company’s premises, it is also convenient for employees to attend classes. Furthermore, the facility provides an environment that is conducive to learning, featuring four fully equipped classrooms that accommodate about 12 employees at a time. Importantly, by facilitating training at the factory, a strong connection is made between basic education training and the workplace, reminding employees of the relevance of the training.
However, she reminds that the company’s investment in basic education transcends the workplace. The skills that employees learn are used to navigate all aspects of modern life and, in this way, also uplift their families and communities.
“GKD Africa continues to raise the benchmark in basic education for employees. It is always an absolute pleasure to work with companies that value their employees and are, therefore, invested in their wellbeing. We look forward to continuing our long working relationship with this client moving forward,” Marco Maree, a Triple E Training’s Training & Development Expert, concludes.
