Showing Your Employees A Future!

A Primer on New EmployeesPresented by Dan Bernacki

President of IDEADan’s Overhead Doors & More

North Liberty, Iowa

How Did You Get Your Start?

Who taught you the skills to do the job?

Did your “trainer” have training skills?

Were you trained to be a professional technician or shown how to install a door?

How did you get your start?

Do you train your people today the same way you were trained, or do you want them to have a better path than you had?

How We Train

We put the new hire with an experienced installer and train on-the-job

The new hire learns what the experienced trainer thinks he should learn

The “trainer” has a job to do and may not have the new employee’s best interests in mind

Bad habits are taught as much as good habits

How We Train

The vast majority of new employees hired by door dealers are trained by individuals with no experience in training.

As an industry, we can do better, even with a continued reliance on our

experienced installers as our primary trainers.

We need to change our attitudes about training and developing talent for our

industry’s future.

What We Think About Training

• I’m probably training my competition• If I train them, they will just leave me go into

business for themselves• If my people learn their jobs too well, they

become ripe for solicitation by my competitors

• Why should I invest in training people that I know will leave me if they get a better offer?

• Hey, I learned the business by hard work and dedication…my employees can do the same thing or they can kiss my @&%!

Re-thinking Training

A lack of training causes turnover, loss of productivity, reduced profitability and ultimately weakens my company’s performance.

Rule of Thumb: Poorly trained employees are a drain on your company. Whatever you think about the chances they might leave you, it is worse if you don’t train them and they stay.

Re-thinking Training

Well trained workers increase productivity and profitability and become the top assets for that business.

Rule of Thumb: Employees involved in acompany that trains and rewards for quality performance are far less likely to leave the company for any reason.

Why Have I Succeeded?

• I learned the industry from a broad perspective, due to the work of the company and the experience of my co-workers

• I had good people training me, who weren’t afraid to train me well

• I was, and am, a hard worker motivated to achieve a good quality of life

• I have been involved in my industry and learned from others through networking opportunities

I didn’t start my own company because of my training. I started my own company

because I wasn’t growing as an individual.

How We Should Train

• Orientation to the industry

• Customer service skills

• Safety training

• Cross training

• Professional opportunities

• Growth and career paths

Show Your Employees a Future!

Orientation to the Industry

• Introduce new workers to a career, not just a job

• Share association publications• Let them get involved in local

industry associations, and the IDA

• Train them to be professional door systems technicians

Help your employees see this as a rewarding and promising career opportunity, and not a dead-end job!

Customer Service Skills

• Employees should gain appreciation and respect for customers as if they owned the company

• Speaking well and communicating professionally are trainable, learnable skills

• Customer service skills better enables the installer to appreciate his professionalism

Knowing the technical aspects is only half the job – gaining confidence and satisfaction of the customer is the other half, and equally important.

Safety Training

• The key to employee compliance with safety policies is to begin training at the beginning of employment

• Safety is a professional skill• Employees must know that nothing they do

for the company is worth an injury to themselves, a co-worker, customer or any member of the general public

Safety has nothing to do with the high cost of insurance or the risk of being sued, and everything to do with the value of each individual.

Cross Training

• Applies to all employees

• Facilitates good communication among staff

• Minimizes conflict• Enhances

customer service• Promotes

teamwork and achievement

Professional Opportunities

• Begin with professional training standards• Give employees goals to achieve• Establish future growth opportunities• Promote and encourage performance

through a reward system• Recognize employee contributions• Begin with professional training standards• Enroll employees in certification programs

Growth and Career Paths

• Employees should not be limited to the jobs they are originally hired to perform

• The door systems industry offers a quality career for a dedicated employee

• Employees with leadership qualities should be given the opportunity to lead

Employees who see a quality future where they are, are less inclined to go somewhere else

Show Your Employees A Future

We cannot be afraid of our employees! We must give them training, opportunities for growth and reward them for their achievements. Employees don’t leave because they are fulfilled in their work and hopeful for their future. They leave when they don’t have that!

Show Your Employees a Future

• Create a training team• Establish performance objectives and

rewards• Involve your company and your staff in

industry events• Train professionalism, customer service

and not just how to install a garage door• Cross train to enable better communication

and teamwork

If you give your employees an opportunity grow and achieve things for themselves, you will have a more profitable company and a more stable workforce!

Show Your Employees a Future

Now Let’s Hear From You!