Kiwifruit and berries are the lifeblood of Whangarei’s Onyx Capital Ltd. And staff are also blossoming at the family-owned business, which employs 60 year-round staff and reaches about 170 workers at peak season.

Onyx owners, the Malley family, are committed to employing and upskilling local kiwis. Training, they say, is the key to keeping employees in the team, together with encouraging career progression into supervisory and management roles. Onyx offers a number of employee training programmes – from core skills, to emerging and developing leaders. Education Unlimited delivers these programmes, which are funded through the Tertiary Education Commission’s (TEC) Workplace Literacy and Numeracy Fund.

Tina Rose, Director of Education Unlimited, says tailoring the programmes to individual needs is essential for people to connect and engage with learning. “The progamme helped some to get a learner’s licence, move to their restricted or have the confidence and capability to get a full licence,” she said. A couple of trainees had dyslexia challenges, so a specialist tutor assisted them with reading and understanding of workplace documents. The leadership programme focuses on workplace policies; dealing with difficult conversations; the difference between being in the team and leading a team; and effective communication.

Onyx HR Manager, Michelle Clayton, says the career development approach is a real boost for employees. “The company identified a need to develop our existing employees to be the future Supervisors, QCs and specialists, so we worked on creating clear career pathways. We started the programmes as we wanted to develop them. We wanted them to come to work, feel valued, understand about health and safety and our expectations of what ‘being a good employee’ actually means.

Michelle says there is a misconception that orchard work is unskilled, but it includes computerised growing and highly technical machinery use, through to managing Health and Safety and food safety in a modern packhouse.

The core skills that underpin productive working, such as being reliable, being healthy, organised and having a positive team attitude in the orchard are a training focus. Workers are also encouraged to understand conflict resolution, active listening, and are developing the skills and confidence to enable conversations with management.

“For orchard workers on a management trajectory, it can be challenging to change from working in a team one day to the next day leading a team as their supervisor or QC!” says Michelle. “The Developing Leaders’ course challenges participants to grapple with aspects of leadership, including conflict resolution, understanding workplace policies, and motivating teams to achieve set targets.”

Michelle says employees who are keen to advance on to supervisory or management roles know the training will teach them how to improve their performance and drive their teams. “They develop the skills and knowledge to participate in management meetings, and they understand the impact of workers performance on the business and its productivity.”

The training brings workers from different parts of the business together – they get to know each other and learn the different aspects of the business. However, fitting the training into the busy working day has been a challenge. Onyx worked around this by paying workers to attend training sessions at the end of the day and by providing them with dinner.

And the benefits to the business? Michelle says there is a noticeable change to how people are working. Workers have blossomed as a result of the Core Skills programme, they feel valued and invested in. “And those in the management programmes are more confident when dealing with the next level up – it’s great to see them now contributing in meetings They share their ideas, can challenge in an appropriate way. They are much better at identifying issues, developing solutions and being able to deal with any performance issues.”

In general, employees are more aware of the expectations and standards of the company, says Michelle. “The Malleys have strong family values. People know what is expected, and it’s fair. The employees value the culture of the workplace – and understand being a good productive worker is so much more than just having great skills. It’s being a participating member of the team.”

“Productive businesses need staff who can communicate confidently in English,” says English Language Partners (ELPNZ) Chief Executive, Nicola Sutton. “Communication is the key to understanding instructions, engaging with colleagues and customers, and reducing workplace accidents.”

ELPNZ provides English language training for New Zealand migrants and refugees. The 22 ELPNZ centres across the country provide training programmes in homes, communities and workplaces. English language training for our multicultural workforce is a growing focus.

Migrants from all over the world are contributing to every industry, and employers are seeing the benefits of supporting their staff through ELPNZ programmes. Training is tailored for specific businesses, and the results are universally positive – more confident, engaged staff and more efficient, productive workplaces.

Korean born, Auckland-based building apprentice Joseph Lee says his ELPNZ course has made a huge difference. “I couldn’t speak English very well. I really wanted to learn, but I couldn’t get much of a chance. I have to work and I have a family. I needed money.”

Joseph attended a weekly course, designed in partnership with Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation (BCITO) and ELPNZ, tailored for building apprentices, who were mainly from China, Taiwan and Korea.

James Langford, from BCITO, says they are looking into working with ELPNZ on future projects. “I think just talking in English in the classroom has given the apprentices confidence.” He says previously they were scared to make a mistake, “but now they’re prepared to stick their neck out and say what they think.”

Joseph says he is now much more confident at work, as he learned all about building terminology. “I recommend the course, as long as they really want to speak English and to be a New Zealander. If they are eager to learn. My boss is happy.”

David Phillips, from Palmerston North’s Steelfort Engineering, sponsored employee Sudhi Edamuttath Subramanyan on a 10-week ELPNZ course, and noticed a marked difference. “It is an investment because ultimately, we will benefit too,” says David. “We wanted to give him every opportunity to succeed.”

Sudhi says he appreciates having an encouraging work environment and being supported ‘as a human being’. “I love it there.”

While Sudhi had four years’ experience as a welder in Kerala, South India, he had no qualification to help him get a job. Sudhi has now completed a welding course with the support of Steelfort Engineering. “I was very shy when I started, but now I try to speak English as much as I can, and I am not afraid to ask questions,” says Sudhi. “I am now a team leader.”

Justin Dado is also a team leader, of the housekeeping team at Auckland’s YMCA, which comprises five different nationalities and deals with visitors from all corners of the globe. “You’ve really got to get in there,” says Justin. “People are people. It doesn’t matter where they are from. You just need to engage, and doing that will reveal just how much we are all alike.”

When Justin first moved to Auckland, he was struck by its cultural diversity. “Growing up in the Philippines, I only ever had to live, learn and grow with Filipino culture, without worrying too much about how other cultures operated,” says Justin. “Auckland was a big change. The fact that so many people co-existed in the same place completely boggled my mind.”

Together with advancing English skills, ELPNZ programmes involve broader cultural learning about working in New Zealand. The YMCA housekeeping team attended a tailor-made ELPNZ course once a week over eight weeks, which addressed the norms of kiwi work and hospitality culture, and identified similar and differing values that staff members had. “In Filipino work culture, you are there to serve the customer,” says Justin. “You are not really expected to engage beyond that. However, here there is more of an expectation of friendly interaction.”

ELPNZ Auckland Central manager, Eve Price, says for a lot of the staff, practising small talk was quite a daunting exercise. “Engaging with people didn’t come quite as easily as it might for Kiwis.”
Paul Brockie, owner of Nelson insulation company Absolute Energy, would agree. Having supported five Burmese (Myanmar Chin) staff through ELPNZ training in Nelson, he says communicating with customers is the most important thing. “They learn how to relate to people in a New Zealand culture; to not be shy when you meet someone new,” says Paul, who is delighted at the results of the ELPNZ course, which was two hours a week over four months. “They have had a really tough life so every opportunity they have to better themselves, they take.”

Installation installer, Johnsy Johnsy, can now confidently greet homeowners in English. “I introduce myself with my name and my partner’s name. I say ‘We’re from Absolute Energy and we’ve come to install your insulation. It’s good for me. I’m better than before,” says Johnsy, who has settled in Nelson with his wife and two-year-old daughter. “Even when people talk fast now, I can understand.”

Johnsy’s partner on installation jobs is also usually Myanmar Chin. They can be heard singing gospel songs from home in the company van, but once on site they now switch to English.

Tony Fitzwater, from ELPNZ in Nelson, says there was a noticeable increase in participation as the course went on. “They treasure it,” says Tony. “They note the improvement in their language and their ability to function better in the workplace. They can understand directions and instructions and can communicate back to their supervisors and their peers.”