Modern organizations that want to get maximum returns from their investments focus on creating a human capital difference through effective training and development programs for their employees.
As they say, the workforce is the most asset for any organization to unleash the real potential of this asset to become a great organization from a good one.
In Liberia, ArcelorMittal Liberia (AML) has been exploring the importance of training and development programs for employees in various ways.
Training and development programs AML has invested in provide a host of benefits for workplace productivity which enhance employee performance, boost employee productivity, reduce employee turnover, and improve company culture.
The company has devoted millions to what seems to be the most technically equipped and well staff vocational training center in Liberia. The ArcelorMittal Training Academy offers technical skills in the areas of mechanical and electrical engineering, welding, etc at no cost to young Liberians.
On Wednesday, July 19, 2023, AML graduated and certified eight train drivers (locomotive operators) at its Buchanan concession area.
This was after they completed more than 18 months of international standard intensive training all at the cost of the company.
Monday’s graduation, the company said constitutes the fourth batch of staff who have so far been trained to operative trains that transport ore and other logistics between Buchanan and Yekepa.
The eight now locomotive operatives were all hired as train assistants and assigned to professional mentors who supervised them and gave feedback to management.
Aside from employee training, every year, the company commits thousands of dollars towards international scholarships for Liberians in different countries across the world.
These young Liberians are fully sponsored to acquire professional graduate degrees in the engineering and varied business disciplines
The company believes that such advanced training solutions tend to achieve both short- and long-term business objectives for AML herself and Liberia at large since most of these scholarship awardees get potentially hired as employees thereby increasing performance rates significantly.
AML’s commitment to the development of staff capacity has made many of its employees working with another concession nowadays understand the need for continuous skill improvement and learning to be competent, thus the reason why training has become the buzzword in the mining industry.
Even though multiple factors matter for the growth and success of an organization, a productive workforce is one of the key factors that ArcelorMittal emphasizes to be sustainable.
AML staff capacity development has not only given a competitive advantage to the employees but also it has helped enhance employees’ capability to adapt to the ever-changing business environments in the technical mining industry.
The training regularly offers by ArcelorMittal’s knowledgeable and competent workforce triggers overall organizational development, the kind of activity that is even of key consideration in Liberia’s public sector.
The important point to make a note of here is training and development as the continuous process should be improved and upgraded at regular intervals as the skills may become obsolete after a certain time, especially in the technical mining area
