Unit 3
Training in the Workplace

Overview

This unit focuses on the issues associated with training in the workplace. It looks at training and related policies and programs from the perspectives of the employer, the worker, and the union. The different roles, expectations, issues, and goals of these stakeholders in the training arena are assessed. The notions of work organization and skill, and work ownership and control, which were introduced in the first two units, are considered in more detail from each of the above perspectives. The different organizational models for workplace training are also examined.

Canadian employers rank among the lowest of all the industrialized countries in their level of investment in training and skills development. In an attempt to explain this situation, we will examine it in light of the employers’, the workers’, and the unions’ motivations for engaging in training. The emerging emphasis that unions and their membership place on training is also considered in relation to its impact on the quality and quantity of training available in the workplace.

Unit Objectives

After completing this unit, you should be able to

1. distinguish between the roles that employers, workers, and unions play in workplace training.
2. give reasons for the conflict and convergence that occurs between employers, workers, and unions when working to resolve skills mismatches in the workplace, and describe the impact this has on the broader issues that affect workplaces in Canada.
3. use examples to show how different perspectives have a major impact on the approach taken to address the problems of workplace skills shortages and underemployment.
4. analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches used in Canada to bring employers, workers, and unions together to address workplace training challenges.