When Joseph Romeo, one of three brothers directing the family-run Romeo Retail Group (RRG), analysed his business' growth potential in 2002 he knew that he needed a solid training program to bring his staff up to speed with changing workplace demands such as OHS legislation and compliance. But he knew that many of RRG's casual workers would struggle with the demands of training due to their limited education or non-English speaking backgrounds. He engaged the services of the Workplace Education unit of TAFE SA South to help him plan a program that would work, both for the business and its employees.
The training program they developed was tailored to retail operations, and integrated language, literacy and numeracy skill development and support into the training. Training costs were subsidised by the Australian government's Workplace English Language and Literacy (WELL) programme.
Hear Joseph and his staff discussing the benefits of the training for them and the business:
Joseph Romeo, Director
Joseph discusses how WELL training helps businesses
Joseph explains the main benefits of WELL training
Joseph talks about making training part of the business
Joseph discusses how every workplace can improve on communication
Brenton Nitschke, Store Manager
Brenton explains how he's grown from training
Brenton discusses using maths at work
"I wouldn't be a store manager if I hadn't done the training"
Judith Ellis, Company Group Trainer
Judith discusses her role and where training led her
Judith discusses the importance of communication to understand what the customer's after
Case studies