Need a reason to train staff? - there’s Fifteen

Employers often complain about the difficulty in finding and retaining good staff. But how much of this stems from a lack of faith and investment in their employees and in young people in general?

I recently had the pleasure of attending a meal at Jamie Oliver’s restaurant Fifteen, which is staffed predominantly by young people from disadvantage backgrounds. This was during an interesting meeting with Eurodata, an owner-managed unified communications (UC) which, like Oliver’s restaurant, is based in Shoreditch, London. During the meal, I asked Eurodata’s managing director Simon Aron if he thought that UC was taking over our lives and was making work inescapable. He replied that this had already happened. Look around most city bars, he suggested, and you’ll find that most people, of various professions, have a Blackberry or similar PDA.

So the revolution has happened he suggested and this brings many benefits. During the discussion, which also included other journalists and tech analysts, the various benefits of UC were discussed. Work is no longer somewhere you go, but something you do and with an increase in home-working big deals might well be brokered by people in their pyjamas. Also, the lines between calls, emails and voicemails are being blurred and when you send a message you can’t be sure on how it is being received. One person suggested that UC was great for employers, as you don’t have to pay overtime when staff check their emails at home, while it also increases productivity. I couldn’t disagree. But I wonder just how much can be asked of staff, – in terms of training, benefits and job security – especially when so many businesses put so little back in.

Our attention moved to the food and the people working at Fifteen. Our waiter proudly told us what was on the menu and continued to offer unblemished service throughout the meal. He displayed none of the cockiness or arrogance that you sometimes have to endure from staff in exclusive restaurants and we never waited long for anything. The food, we all agreed, was fantastic and you’d never believe it had been served and prepared by someone who once may have been described as having ‘no future’.  

So, if you can take on poorly educated people and turn them into world-beaters, then what can you do with staff that already have a lot to offer? Also, if business-owners are making increasing demands upon staff through the use of ever-more effective communications, then surely they have some right to demand a little back?  I doubt there are many staff that will loyally work around the clock without something more than a ‘market rate’ salary to motivate them. And employers that disagree should hardly be surprised when their better staff leave at the drop of a hat.