Training for Young Workers and Managers
Young workers have enormous potential to become loyal, skilled workers, but this potential is often unfulfilled as very little is offered in the way of skills training and career development to support them.
Line managers and supervisors who interact with young workers can play a key role in addressing the needs of young workers and supporting them to thrive in the workplace. However, many managers lack the knowledge and skills they need to meet the specific needs of young workers. This often results in high turnover rates among young people, especially among those who’ve left home for the first time and may struggle to adapt to working life. A lack of motivation at work, as well as conflict and friction between young workers and management, are also common issues which result when employers are not equipped with the skills they need to respond to the needs of young workers.
We offer face-to-face, on-site training sessions for young workers and their managers (including line managers and supervisors). Training content is adapted to the specific context including country, sector, location etc.
Training for Young Workers
The Centre’s Training for Young Workers helps young workers to establish self-esteem and positive attitudes towards work and life, equips them with skills to deal with common areas of work-related stress, introduces concepts and skills related to communication and conflict management, and supports workers to make personal plans for career development.
Training for Young Workers covers the following areas:
Understanding your needs and achieving personal goals
How to retain a professional focus and stay motivated
Thinking differently in the workplace
Practical steps for managing personal stress
How to effectively communicate with people
How to react when receiving a criticism from your supervisor
Managing conflict with your co-workers
How to plan for personal career development
The training is interactive, fast paced and designed specifically to be engaging, relevant and fun for young workers. Our experienced trainers and facilitators bring extensive experience in working with young people and are expert in creating a positive group dynamic during training sessions.
eLearning Support
The Centre's WeChat eLearning platform compliments training for young workers by providing young workers with tips on how to deal with common workplace challenges such as communication with supervisors, conflict management etc. Lessons are presented in an easy-to-digest comic style. The content is available in Mandarin.
Training for Managers
The Centre’s training modules for mangers are designed for line managers and frontline supervisors who manage young workers aged 15-25 (specific age range depends on country of training). Training content covers practical skills to help managers respond to common situations related to young worker management, including how to motivate young workers, sharing feedback for improvement, supporting young workers to develop their potential and thrive in the workplace. Others training topics include:
Understanding the current needs and thoughts of todays’ workers (aged between 15-25, especially youth who have reached the legal minimum working age and are under 18), and the challenges they face
Key concepts and skills to strengthen communication
Preventing and handling conflict situations between, and with, young workers
Identifying strengths and weaknesses, developing an action plan as a line manager
Providing emotional support and how to create a plan for personal development
The Centre's Training for managers draws on our first-hand experience of working with young workers which shows us that these workers want to communicate more positively with their frontline managers, as well as be respected.
Focusing on communication and team mobilisation skills, the training supports frontline managers to improve cooperation and reduce worker grievances on the factory floor or production area. Trainings apply a "learning by doing" approach, with trainers leading participants through real-life situations that facilitate discussions on their concerns/doubts and solutions/best practices under such situations.
Through the young worker training series, quite a few young workers who were really shy could interact with each other very well. We established a WeChat group for the participating young workers at the start of the programme for the mere purpose of convenient communication during the programme implementation, but it turned out to be very good platform for them to socialise. In this group, they arrange meet-ups after work, or pour out their emotions when feeling anxious or stressed.
－Ms. Yu, the key person for VF WeCare implementation at KVE factory in China
Some young workers told me that they never thought about their career development path in our factory before, but now they have a clearer direction for their future after attending the young worker training. They also took the initiative to participate in various training and activities that we organised. I fully agree and support the idea of listening to young workers through face-to-face communication. They have expectations and we also expect a lot from them. In the future, we will continue to create opportunities to help young workers improve and develop.
(Date: 2020)
－Mr. Wang, Chairman of the Labour Union at KVE factory
The training has taught me a practical lesson in how to communicate and handle workers’ emotions. Before the training, I always talked to the workers in the wrong tone, I think it is because I didn’t receive much education and I have poor language skills. After the training, I realised I need to explain things more clearly to the workers, learn their needs and communicate with them in a way that is suitable for them.
－A deputy line manager in a Shenzhen factory
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