Labatt's beer school and other ways organizations are providing employees with training not directly related to their jobs
Going out for a pint just isn’t the same anymore for Margot Lackenbauer.
She used to be what she called a “beer rookie.” Sure, she’d done a lot of tasting over the years but she never really gave much thought about the various ales or lagers behind the bar. Now, when she steps into the neighbourhood pub, she shudders when she sees a beer faux pas. If the bartender pours a pint of Stella Artois, without cutting the head or if the glass touches the tap, she notices.
That’s because Lackenbauer, human resources administrator for the national office of Labatt Interbrew in Toronto, has graduated beer school.
For many employees, it’s a dream training session — the opportunity to flee from the drab corporate training world of dry seminars and blackboards and head down to a pub, kick back and learn the ins and outs of beer while enjoying a pint or two in the process.
For Mike Rodgers, vice-president of human resources at Labatt Interbrew, it’s all in a day’s work and part of the company’s training and development strategy that sees all of its non-unionized employees enrol in beer school.
In the next couple of years the brewer plans on sending 4,000 employees through the program — either at the employee pub at the company’s head office in Toronto or at satellite locations across the country.
It’s a training strategy that, at first glance, might leave some old-school chief executive officers scratching their heads and wondering what the value is in sending an IT professional — who really doesn’t need any knowledge of beer to do her job well — off on a training course that varies in length from one to five days.
But Rodgers said the value is immeasurable, particularly in Labatt’s case.
“In our type of business, everyone is an ambassador,” said Rodgers. “If you work for a life insurance company, not everyone is going to ask you to talk about life insurance. But if you’re a beer worker, everybody starts asking you questions when you’re at a party.”
Labatt employees who have completed beer school can talk about many of the fine points of ale — from the proper glass to use for each type to pairing food with a myriad of different brews. By arming employees with the fine points of beer, they’re able to talk knowledgeably with clients, friends and family.
“It’s important to be able to take pride in work and what they are doing,” he said. “It fits really well in our overall philosophy in investing in our employees. We attract good people to this company and we don’t have turnover. High-quality employees demand and expect high-quality experiences. The product here allows us the luxury of doing that.”
Russel Summers, an associate professor in the department of management at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, said there is a lot of value in this type of training, even though it may be hard to find at first.
“It’s not like they’re trying to teach them to taste wine, which has nothing to do with what Labatt does,” said Summers. “But they’re trying to make a connection to what the organization is all about.”
It’s training with a greater purpose: developing corporate culture. The training event, while not related to job duties, helps connect employees to the company’s products and the corporate environment.
He said other organizations have taken similar routes with training — including sending new hires with MBAs out on delivery routes with truck drivers — in an attempt to put them in touch with the “pointy end of the stick.”
And while this has the potential of leaving a hotshot new hire who has just completed an MBA feeling a tad underutilized while traveling around in a delivery truck, it provides invaluable experience for a future leader, he said.
“Organizations that do these sort of things, they do it with a purpose,” said Summers. “Most people in the training field don’t do things without reason. When they get a person like that who goes through it and does it willingly, it’s going to be something that is part of their experience. It’s sort of a baptism. The payoff is that you have somebody who ends up having a better sense of the organization and they’re not detached from the realities in the company.”
And organizations shouldn’t be too worried if they lose a prospect because of this type of training.
“If somebody takes some measure of resentment towards something like that, probably the organization wouldn’t feel that there’s been any great loss,” he said.
The bottom line for Summers is that giving employees a taste of what the company is all about and how their role fits into the bigger picture will inevitably lead to a stronger, well-rounded organization from top to bottom.
“It creates an enthusiastic type of work situation in terms of the organization’s culture,” he said. “If you have managers who understand the nature of their customers and they’ve experienced interaction with those customers, they can do a better job of emphasizing better service.”
Dave Santi, manager of HR development at Hamilton-based steel manufacturer Dofasco, said this type of training is beneficial to all staff because of the role it plays in teambuilding.
Dofasco runs a program, which it calls “play to win,” that sees nearly every new hire head up to a resort as an initiation to the company. About 7,000 employees have taken part since it was launched in 1993. Santi said the company spends about $20 million per year on training and development on top of the $13 million it spends on apprenticeships.
“The intent is to get a better understanding of the organization and the things it is trying to accomplish,” said Santi. “We talk about the issues facing Dofasco, what we do, who our customers are. We try to put the program in context that nobody can do it alone, that we need to look out for each other.”
As part of the getaway, employees take part in a variety of unique exercises, including a rope course and climbing up a pole. The activities are all optional, but even those who choose not to do things like climb a pole can help out on the ground for those who do.
“The context is that when you’re back at the company, you can help out,” he said. “It teaches respect and concern for others, that our strength is our people, and what those things mean. We need 7,000 people with leadership qualities to make us successful.”
Employees head to the resort in groups of between 50 and 70. Dofasco organizes about four trips a year to the resort.
One of the keys to the success of the program has been the fact Dofasco has opened up to employees on every level on subjects that used to be taboo, said Santi.
“There’s no secrets. At one time, most organizations didn’t share a lot of information,” he said. “Financial and strategic stuff seemed to be held tightly. But if you want employees to understand, they need better information. We have found that when we share this type of information with staff, they’re pretty smart. They get it, they appreciate it and things are a lot easier at the end of the day.”
Part of the training process is giving new hires a chance to sit down with senior management and participate in a question-and-answer session. Last year, an employee asked Dofasco’s CEO John Mayberry, who has since retired, how much money he makes in a year.
“And he told him,” said Santi. “He spent 15 to 20 minutes talking about the process the board goes through and what the formula is in determining his salary and bonuses. The feedback was open and honest. It was great.”
Santi said firms looking at implementing these sorts of training programs need to keep in mind one important thing: context.
“If you don’t have a context in mind, or don’t articulate what the context is for this program, it’s probably not going to work out,” he said. “It needs to be grounded in a need to do something.”
Igor Kotlyar, a partner with Upward Motion, a Toronto-based firm specializing in technology for assessment and recruiting, said that’s the most important thing to keep in mind when designing a program similar to what Labatt or Dofasco is doing.
“It’s valuable if the organization knows what they’re going to get out of it,” said Kotlyar. “If they’re going to build a certain type of culture or familiarize employees with a product, it will work. But if they expect to get better skills, it’s not likely going to do that.”
She used to be what she called a “beer rookie.” Sure, she’d done a lot of tasting over the years but she never really gave much thought about the various ales or lagers behind the bar. Now, when she steps into the neighbourhood pub, she shudders when she sees a beer faux pas. If the bartender pours a pint of Stella Artois, without cutting the head or if the glass touches the tap, she notices.
That’s because Lackenbauer, human resources administrator for the national office of Labatt Interbrew in Toronto, has graduated beer school.
For many employees, it’s a dream training session — the opportunity to flee from the drab corporate training world of dry seminars and blackboards and head down to a pub, kick back and learn the ins and outs of beer while enjoying a pint or two in the process.
For Mike Rodgers, vice-president of human resources at Labatt Interbrew, it’s all in a day’s work and part of the company’s training and development strategy that sees all of its non-unionized employees enrol in beer school.
In the next couple of years the brewer plans on sending 4,000 employees through the program — either at the employee pub at the company’s head office in Toronto or at satellite locations across the country.
It’s a training strategy that, at first glance, might leave some old-school chief executive officers scratching their heads and wondering what the value is in sending an IT professional — who really doesn’t need any knowledge of beer to do her job well — off on a training course that varies in length from one to five days.
But Rodgers said the value is immeasurable, particularly in Labatt’s case.
“In our type of business, everyone is an ambassador,” said Rodgers. “If you work for a life insurance company, not everyone is going to ask you to talk about life insurance. But if you’re a beer worker, everybody starts asking you questions when you’re at a party.”
Labatt employees who have completed beer school can talk about many of the fine points of ale — from the proper glass to use for each type to pairing food with a myriad of different brews. By arming employees with the fine points of beer, they’re able to talk knowledgeably with clients, friends and family.
“It’s important to be able to take pride in work and what they are doing,” he said. “It fits really well in our overall philosophy in investing in our employees. We attract good people to this company and we don’t have turnover. High-quality employees demand and expect high-quality experiences. The product here allows us the luxury of doing that.”
Russel Summers, an associate professor in the department of management at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, said there is a lot of value in this type of training, even though it may be hard to find at first.
“It’s not like they’re trying to teach them to taste wine, which has nothing to do with what Labatt does,” said Summers. “But they’re trying to make a connection to what the organization is all about.”
It’s training with a greater purpose: developing corporate culture. The training event, while not related to job duties, helps connect employees to the company’s products and the corporate environment.
He said other organizations have taken similar routes with training — including sending new hires with MBAs out on delivery routes with truck drivers — in an attempt to put them in touch with the “pointy end of the stick.”
And while this has the potential of leaving a hotshot new hire who has just completed an MBA feeling a tad underutilized while traveling around in a delivery truck, it provides invaluable experience for a future leader, he said.
“Organizations that do these sort of things, they do it with a purpose,” said Summers. “Most people in the training field don’t do things without reason. When they get a person like that who goes through it and does it willingly, it’s going to be something that is part of their experience. It’s sort of a baptism. The payoff is that you have somebody who ends up having a better sense of the organization and they’re not detached from the realities in the company.”
And organizations shouldn’t be too worried if they lose a prospect because of this type of training.
“If somebody takes some measure of resentment towards something like that, probably the organization wouldn’t feel that there’s been any great loss,” he said.
The bottom line for Summers is that giving employees a taste of what the company is all about and how their role fits into the bigger picture will inevitably lead to a stronger, well-rounded organization from top to bottom.
“It creates an enthusiastic type of work situation in terms of the organization’s culture,” he said. “If you have managers who understand the nature of their customers and they’ve experienced interaction with those customers, they can do a better job of emphasizing better service.”
Dave Santi, manager of HR development at Hamilton-based steel manufacturer Dofasco, said this type of training is beneficial to all staff because of the role it plays in teambuilding.
Dofasco runs a program, which it calls “play to win,” that sees nearly every new hire head up to a resort as an initiation to the company. About 7,000 employees have taken part since it was launched in 1993. Santi said the company spends about $20 million per year on training and development on top of the $13 million it spends on apprenticeships.
“The intent is to get a better understanding of the organization and the things it is trying to accomplish,” said Santi. “We talk about the issues facing Dofasco, what we do, who our customers are. We try to put the program in context that nobody can do it alone, that we need to look out for each other.”
As part of the getaway, employees take part in a variety of unique exercises, including a rope course and climbing up a pole. The activities are all optional, but even those who choose not to do things like climb a pole can help out on the ground for those who do.
“The context is that when you’re back at the company, you can help out,” he said. “It teaches respect and concern for others, that our strength is our people, and what those things mean. We need 7,000 people with leadership qualities to make us successful.”
Employees head to the resort in groups of between 50 and 70. Dofasco organizes about four trips a year to the resort.
One of the keys to the success of the program has been the fact Dofasco has opened up to employees on every level on subjects that used to be taboo, said Santi.
“There’s no secrets. At one time, most organizations didn’t share a lot of information,” he said. “Financial and strategic stuff seemed to be held tightly. But if you want employees to understand, they need better information. We have found that when we share this type of information with staff, they’re pretty smart. They get it, they appreciate it and things are a lot easier at the end of the day.”
Part of the training process is giving new hires a chance to sit down with senior management and participate in a question-and-answer session. Last year, an employee asked Dofasco’s CEO John Mayberry, who has since retired, how much money he makes in a year.
“And he told him,” said Santi. “He spent 15 to 20 minutes talking about the process the board goes through and what the formula is in determining his salary and bonuses. The feedback was open and honest. It was great.”
Santi said firms looking at implementing these sorts of training programs need to keep in mind one important thing: context.
“If you don’t have a context in mind, or don’t articulate what the context is for this program, it’s probably not going to work out,” he said. “It needs to be grounded in a need to do something.”
Igor Kotlyar, a partner with Upward Motion, a Toronto-based firm specializing in technology for assessment and recruiting, said that’s the most important thing to keep in mind when designing a program similar to what Labatt or Dofasco is doing.
“It’s valuable if the organization knows what they’re going to get out of it,” said Kotlyar. “If they’re going to build a certain type of culture or familiarize employees with a product, it will work. But if they expect to get better skills, it’s not likely going to do that.”
