Ready to Work – Part I

We become involved with S.T.E.C. in 2005 by providing guest speakers to their “Ready to Work” programs. 

• We then agreed to hire on several northern students that had participated in their program.
• These students have completed the “Ready to Work” program and performed quite well in the workplace.
• Programs are 12 weeks in length and cover the overall restaurant operation (6 weeks) then they break the group up into 2 groups that spend the remaining 6 weeks in either the Kitchen or Dining room.
• Courses have been completed in Creighton, Buffalo Narrows and Lac La Ronge and have about 18 students each.  Athabasca Catering has employed several from the La Ronge program. As part of our acceptance of the “Ready to Work” students S.T.E.C. will provide mentoring services by sending their instructors on to site to assist in dealing with students that are struggling. 
• Course is presently being delivered in Stony Rapids with further plans for Fond du Lac, Black Lake and possibly Wollaston Lake.

This information is from S.T.E.C.’s web page (www.stec.com) about the “Ready to Work” program that is presently being delivered in Stony Rapids.

• Athabasca Catering will be going to Stony Rapids to interview individuals and speak to the group about mine site etiquette, employer expectations and work life at a mine site.
• It is our belief that bringing in better qualified work ready employees will help reduce our turnover which in turn increases the overall experience of our staff on site. 
• This will allow the training we do on site to become more effective.
• We will also complete S.T.E.C.’s “Train the Workplace Trainer” on the actual work sites to further enhance our ability to train new and existing employees.
• This affiliation with S.T.E.C. should help improve our retention and continued training of employee.
• We are realistic that not all workers we employ will desire to continue their career in the service industry but feel this offers a viable program to increase our core of qualified employees.

Train the Workplace Trainer - Part II

This program is scheduled for completion in Key Lake on March 9, 10, 11, 2007.  Rabbit Lake and Cigar Lake will follow up in the next several months. The program consists of an S.T.E.C. Trainer coming to site to instruct our staff. 

As part of our acceptance of the “Ready to Work” students S.T.E.C. will also provide “Train the Workplace Trainer” program by sending their instructors on to site to train our supervisory staff to ensure we are meeting expected workplace standards. 

• This program must be completed in the north as the supporting funds are dedicated for northern education.
• Athabasca Catering will pay training time for our managers that take this program.
• Course length is 24 to 32 hours with take home assignments and a final exam.

The following is a brief description of the program from S.T.E.C.’s web page www.stec.com .

We have high expectations that this program will improve our internal training abilities with new and current employees.  We expect to immediately see:

• Better trained and satisfied employees which should reduce turnover.
• Consistent performance in labeling, portion control and quality of service.
• Improved smart choice performance by front end staff.

Nationally Certified Housekeeping Room Attendant – Part III

This program involves training housekeeping staff to nationally accepted standards through S.T.E.C. and emerit.  The following information is from emerit’s web page www.emerit.ca. (emerit training products and programs are based on industry-defined standards, recognized across Canada. The range of emerit training products is incredibly diverse, encompassing many professional positions in the tourism industry. And they are created by professionals for professionals, making emerit the finest training resource available to the tourism industry).

• S.T.E.C. through emerit will send an instructor to site to train, observe and test individuals entered into this program.
• Successful candidates will receive the National Certification Certificate and become a leader or mentor to new employees.
• In this way we can ensure that the staff involved in training new employees are qualified and understand the standards expected.
• This program should help increase pride and consistency to the Housekeeping Department at all our sites.

Guest Services Representative – Part IV

Guest Services Representative is a journey person trade in Saskatchewan.

• Saskatchewan Apprenticeship and Trade Certification Commission, Northern Apprenticeship Commission and S.T.E.C. will consider if our Housing Managers qualify as certified trades persons under the Saskatchewan Apprenticeship and Trade Certification Act 1999.
• If we are successful in this application we will indenture and follow through with required training to attain red seal journey person certification for our Housing Managers.
• S.T.E.C., S.I.A.S.T. and N.A.C. will be involved in attaining red seal status for our Housing Managers.
• This will serve to set standards within this position and ensure standards are met and maintained.
• Increased pride and consistency will hopefully inspire housekeepers to attain similar accreditation.

Athabasca Catering expects to see positive change from the first two S.T.E.C. programs combined with our ongoing management development programs.  In addition if our apprentices are successful we will have the foundation of our own mentorship program that will continue to develop our employees.  The nationally accredited “Housekeeping Room Attendant” and journey person trade “Guest Services Representative” will create pride and initiative to all aspects of our training and should serve to reduce staff turnover.  In fact our hope is that this will make these positions desirable.