Workstar

10 September 2007

Asia Pacific's leading online training company Workstar and Queensland Alumina Limited (QAL) recently embarked on a groundbreaking partnership to actively address pressing skills shortages affecting QAL staff and, more widely, Queensland industry. By accessing Workstar's cutting-edge technologies and online learning experience, QAL are investing in their own staff to provide trainers to the rest of their workforce, resulting in improved productivity and increasing diversity of employee skills sets.

As the world's largest alumina refinery, QAL enlisted the help of Workstar to train 15 QAL staff members in the latest online learning techniques. During the six months that Workstar has been working with QAL, over 800 staff have completed the specially designed QAL courses - an outstanding completion rate considering the short time that the initiative has been running.

Speaking from Brisbane, Garry Hargreaves, Client Relationship Manager for Workstar stated, "Usually we work with our clients using an outsourced model and we manage the whole process. However, QAL wanted to invest in a skills transfer process to internal staff. In this first-of-its-kind program, we designed a training program that imparts much-needed industry skills to the QAL staff via a range of short intensive workshops. This approach allows QAL to take control of their training and play an active role in providing their fellow employees with 'just in time', site-specific knowledge and skills.

"We are very impressed with how effective this partnership has been and we are delighted to have played a key role in the development of skill pathways for QAL's staff. We hope that QAL's success will encourage other companies to take a similar active role in staff training," Mr Hargreaves said.

QAL Senior Human Resources Officer, Keith Greatrix said, "As the world's largest alumina refinery it is vital that our staff are constantly refreshing their skills and knowledge base, particularly when it comes to safety. We are very pleased to have partnered with Workstar to up-skill our staff two-fold, both in the discipline of online training and in the specific QAL safety modules."

"Workstar has helped us to effectively instruct our staff on e-learning best practices to the point where our employees feel confident enough to populate the online templates and create their own learning modules on an ongoing basis. Our partnership with Workstar has empowered our employees and proven to be highly cost effective for our company overall," Mr Greatrix said.

The partnership between Workstar and QAL highlights the active role that companies are playing in providing effective solutions to local issues and demonstrates how two leaders of industry working in partnership can actively help employees and their clients look towards a productive future.

About Workstar

Workstar and its subsidiaries are part of the TodayCorp group, providing total learning and development solutions to people and businesses of all sizes. Many of the region’s leading employers use Workstar’s award winning technology, learning content and consulting services to deliver increased sales, productivity and compliance, whilst reducing training and recruitment costs. Workstar has also been awarded major national and international multimedia projects in education and training and has received global recognition for its solutions and impact on business success.