Spending time and money on training employees is definitely a big investment – and it’s worth it.
It reminds me of this poignant little story. The CFO asks the CEO, “What if we invest in training our employees and they all go work elsewhere?”
The CEO replies, “What if we don’t train them, and they stay?”
We’re lucky in Savannah. We have a technical college dedicated to training our future workforce no matter what needs arise within our local industries.
On Wednesday, Savannah Technical College started a new program called Apartment, Hotel & Hospitality Maintenance Technician.
In the tourism community, we’re thrilled this new curriculum is in place. Hiring a maintenance worker who can work on 70 percent of your overall needs means you have to hire outside contractors to work on the other 30 percent. Those external costs add up. Having someone who can work on all maintenance problems is a big boon to the bottom line.
For this training course, 10 people will complete 90.5 hours of classroom instruction, online classes and lab work to practice hands-on. They will become proficient in electrical, plumbing, HVAC and appliance maintenance.
Kevin Werntz, vice president for economic development at Savannah Technical College, said a large apartment
complex management group came to him and asked about starting a program to train good maintenance workers. The need was great.
It was also great in the hospitality and hotel industry. Several of my colleagues said they needed better trained engineers and maintenance workers to handle the everyday needs of running the buildings that house our vibrant visitor community.
“When we were presented with the need, we also had to find out when to offer the course,” Werntz said. “We tailored the schedule for classes to take place when the people interested in this line of work would be available.”
That meant Savannah Technical College had to offer the classes in the late afternoon and evening so participants could work and study at the same time.
Savannah Technical College also works with Veterans Affairs to tie into the veterans benefits for education.
“The best feature of the program puts all of the disciplines into how to manage a project,” Werntz said. “They will learn a structure or checklist of what they need to do when they walk into a unit, hotel room or restaurant.”
At the end of the course, participants must earn the American National Standards Institute accredited Certificate for Maintenance Technicians.
They will have garnered a life skill and, important to my industry, the skills to save significant money in maintenance costs.
So, if you’re handy, this might be a career path whereby you will fill a great need in Savannah. And, if you’re a “CEO,” training your maintenance workers, albeit a risk, would be worth every penny.
Michael Owens is president/CEO of the Tourism Leadership Council, the largest non-profit trade organization that supports and represents the tourism community. Contact Owens at michael@tourismleadershipcouncil.com or by calling 912-232-1223.
By Michael Owens