For graduates and prospective employees to gain access to the limited opportunities in the work environment, they need to improve and educate themselves as well as keep current within their respective industries. That’s the view of Juliette Fourie, CEO of training provider Metro Minds, who believes that while employment opportunities are limited in Gauteng, it remains a hub for most decision makers.

“At a tertiary level, the lack of practical skills is evident and graduates are really struggling to adapt to the workplace and perform well, and are not as productive as organisations want them to be. Due to the lack of practical thinking at these levels, it is paramount that private institutions invest in the development of more simulated and practical programmes,” said Fourie. Simulated training helped improve productivity and performance, reduce errors and build confidence in the workplace, creating a more effective employee, she added.

She pointed out that a 2012 study had found that within the oil and gas industry alone simulated learning had reflected – on average – a total saving of US$15.3 million per plant per year. In addition to its wide training portfolio, Metro Minds now offers a Gap Year Programme to enable matriculants to achieve formal qualifications by exposing them to practical experience in many different kinds of businesses.

In the logistics industry a dearth of skills is only part of the problem. More critical, says CEO of training provider Metro Minds, Juliette Fourie, is the huge gap between any tertiary qualification and the world of work. “A study undertaken by the Aberdeen Group (2013) indicated that only 10% of researched organisations said that their new, inexperienced job-entrants were ready to contribute and perform from their joining time,” Fourie told FTW.

“Researching and analysing this ourselves, we discovered that new entrants lacked critical thinking, industry experience, general business acumen and personal leadership ability.” All of which can be addressed in a simulated environment, according to Fourie. “Our Workplace Simulator is a recent addition to our portfolio and is designed to achieve higher performing and more productive job entrants into the market, creating skilled and qualified talent for the industry in a range of disciplines – from forwarding and customs to sales, finance and supply chain. The simulated environment provides the benefit of constant, consistent and immediate feedback, preventing errors or mistakes in the future.”

“The logistic simulation has been academically researched and we have almost completed our second successful group of students. It includes multiple scenarios that reflect the reality in the workplace – from dealings with clients and following the generic process of trade to completion of documents and operating in warehousing and distribution facilities. In fact it encompasses all the activities that new entrants into the freight forwarding and logistics industry would be doing.”

It’s key to mitigating errors, says Fourie who believes that the importance of getting it right first time is underscored by the outcome if anything goes wrong and things land up in the International Court of Arbitration® which leads the resolution of international trade disputes. Metro Minds offers an end-to-end training solution that covers the many disciplines in the logistics industry. “This ranges from identifying the skills gaps to executing fit-for-purpose programmes to improve companies’ talent pools,” says Fourie.“We are extremely passionate about education and have therefore restructured our business to be a BEE Level 2 contributor so that most of our profits are allocated to an Education and Empowering Trust to benefit a larger society.”

In the fast-paced courier industry it is essential that training companies offer flexible services to accommodate all levels of employee development. According to Juliette Fourie, CEO of Metro Minds, the focus remains on more customised programmes for the industry. “In line with the National Development Plan (NDP) our learning methods lean towards workplace-integrated learning and simulation in order to assist with the overall targets of the country’s priorities,” she said.

The objective of the NDP is to reduce unemployment to 14% by 2020 and 6% by 2030. And while skills improvement increases the chance of being employed, the throughput rate at Further education and training (FET) institutions is poor despite increased numbers of learners. “The NDP proposes realignment of the economy to look at matching labour demand with supply,” said Fourie. “It becomes crucial when and how staff are trained and educated.

In industries such as the courier sector, which is fast and never sleeps, it is essential that training providers are flexible and meet the needs of companies. ”Commenting on funding issues, Fourie said the SETA funding models remained a good place to start with development plans but they were at the same time an administrative challenge to manage. “The new broad-based black economic empowerment codes also put pressure on companies to increase their skills development spend and focus on achieving the priority targets within the codes. there is a lot of pressure on industry to be profitable, productive and comply at the same time,” she said. “this requires reframing and refocusing on how skills development, talent management, compliance and regulation targets and human capital development should be executed.”

Specialised freight training company, Metro Minds, will be offering workplace simulation training for a number of different skills sets by January 2017, according to company CEO, Juliette Fourie. This follows the successful introduction earlier this year of Metro Minds simulation courses focused on warehousing and distribution.

“We believe that by creating simulated work scenarios, systems and processes, the transition into a job is likely to be much more efficient,” she said, pointing out that while workplace simulation was not a new idea or a revolutionary innovation, Metro Minds believed that simulations and learnerships provided an immediate return on investment for organisations.

“Being exposed to this industry for the last 17 years, I’ve made it my personal objective to find evidence to show the industry that education and training play a significant role in the success of new job entrants in the workplace through simulators,” Fourie said. According to her, the benefits to the employee, the employer and the industry are found in more than just building a skill set but also the consequential benefits derived from the simulator in the form of time and motion savings and performance benefits.

“Workplace simulators can be used for up-skilling to a new system, process or industry change, as well as refreshing all employees’ skills sets,” commented Fourie, adding that practicing activities and functions in a simulated process was proven to give participants more confidence in their ability to execute tasks. She believes the implementation of workplace simulators in the logistics sector could help reach the target that government’s National Development Plan (NDP) has set to decrease unemployment to 14% by 2030.

“The positive impact of simulators stretches across industries, businesses, individuals and communities and could be a solution to many important issues like poor performance, lack of training and unemployment,” said Fourie.

Industry has welcomed new government initiatives – such as the National Youth Policy 2020 (NYP 2020) – to help improve youth employability through skills development, but has called for better feedback on the success of these initiatives.

The National Youth Policy 2020 (NYP 2020) aims to reduce South Africa’s unemployment rate from the current 26.6% to 16% by 2020 by pushing skills development among the youth, said the deputy minister in the Presidency responsible for planning monitoring and evaluation, Buti Manamela, speaking at the Youth Infrastructure Development 2016 Conference in Durban last Friday.

Manamela said that government would improve public employment schemes such as the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), Youth Brigades and the Community Works Programmes through the NYP 2020. “These programmes help improve youth employability, skills development and help to get them on the first rung of the empowerment ladder,” he said.

Septi Bukula, independent economic consultant and chairman of the board of the Institute of Business Advisers, welcomed government interventions such as the NYP 2020, commenting that one of South Africa’s most pressing issues was the “depressingly high rate of economic exclusion of young people”. He added that business was however kept mostly in the dark about how effective these programmes were. “We need quality feedback on how these initiatives are doing. But more importantly, we need more large-scale and multi-faceted interventions.”

Juliette Fourie, founder and CEO of logistics and supply chain training company, MetroMinds, agreed, telling FTW Online that there was a “huge” skills gap for matriculants who suddenly found themselves in the job market – particularly for the logistics industry. “School leavers are simply not equipped to enter the job market. They are not exposed enough to the career options and they don’t even have the basic skills to manage in a working environment – thus posing a risk to companies who do give them a chance,” she said.

She said industry learnerships did still play a major role but that bridging courses – to make matriculants more employable – were a vitally important cog in the overall skills development machine. “Intervention should be at secondary level as well,” added Fourie.

Thanks to compliance-driven targets like employment equity, BEE and skills development, more and more companies are investing in staff training, according to Metro Minds MD Juliette Fourie. But a lot more needs to be done.

Many organisations depend on government-granted funding to build a knowledgeable workforce using learnerships, internships and graduate programmes that are undertaken on the job, says Fourie. “But learning needs to be measured and the productivity and performance linked to knowledge, skill and attitude – which is a challenge with on-the-job training. “We have a passion for skills development and believe that if the objective behind training and transformation is to grow and develop your staff, the compliance will happen naturally.”

Skills – or lack of them – are regarded as the number one challenge in the industry, and across-the-board training is key. “While there is always room for foundational skills, training for customs controllers, supply chain practitioners, supply chain planners, managers and experienced sales executives is critical,” says Fourie. But employability goes beyond training – and this is an area that Metro Minds has addressed.“From the new employee’s perspective, it takes time to master your skill on the job. We believe that by creating simulated work scenarios, systems and processes, the transition into a job is likely to be much more efficient. Which is why Metro Minds is launching a simulator as well as a bridging programme this year to fill these gaps.

“Workplace simulation is not a new idea or a revolutionary innovation – but we believe that simulations and learnerships provide immediate return on investment for organisations.”The objective at Metro Minds is to make staff the client’s biggest asset – even before the person starts his first day at work, says Fourie. “Our Wise Minds is a 10-module bridging programme that acts as an induction and orientation before the employee even starts in the workplace. It can be customised to even serve as an induction programme for companies,” she says.

And in order to help plug the skills gap in sales and supply chain, the company has partnered with several higher education institutions like Da Vinci Institute and CIPS.The sales management programme, better known as OISTER, acknowledges the need for multi-disciplinary skills in the sales sector. “Besides understanding the sales cycle, sales executives also need an understanding of the people to whom they are selling.”

Addressing the ever-growing skills gap has to start with getting the basics right, advises Juliette Fourie, director of Metro Minds. “Because the trade industry is developing rather than dying, certain skills gaps have widened and others closed,” she says. Fourie says companies have to start with the basics to address the skills gap. “Human Resources and training managers are there to facilitate and co-ordinate the implementation and solutions but line managers and supervisors should know their staff well enough to know where they have skills gaps that need to be addressed.”

She also advises that companies partner with a training provider to help them through the process of identifying their skills needs and planning solutions accordingly. “As a business you need to understand what the skills suppliers are able to do best for you and how they can customise and collaborate to suit your training needs for the long run,” says Fourie. “Education is not a quick fix but a long-term investment. Make sure you partner with a provider giving you a return on your investment.”

At the same time, she says, training should be simulated in the workplace. “There has to be more workplace simulated solutions and focusing on transformation for the long term – not implementing quick solutions for compliance only.” Practical experience remains a valuable part of training. “What makes workplace simulation so valuable is that through complete real-life scenarios, one can gain first-hand experience of the workplace, but without the risk of errors that are costly in real-life situations,” says Fourie. “We have started a supply chain of events to cater for our clients skills needs from beginning to end,” she says.

As a business you need to understand what the skills suppliers are able to do best for you. – Juliette Fourie