The Small Employer of the Year Award recognises a small enterprise that has achieved excellence in the provision of nationally recognised training to its employees.
Hy-Performance Fluid Power has manufactured and supplied hydraulic and drive products to global mining industries for over 20 years and now has blue chip clients in six continents.
CEO, Sandra Gillanders says that winning the Small Employer of the Year Award at the 2015 Australian Training Awards is validation that Hy-Performance Fluid Power is providing innovative and best practice training.
Sandra’s global business strategy for the future involves targeting countries as they come out of their mining downturn.
“I can only do that with skilled staff, so I’m training them now.”
Hy-Performance Fluid Power integrates training into all aspects of the company’s operations.
“Staff are upskilled and multi-skilled in a variety of ways,” Sandra explains. “For example, we have fitters who are enrolled in fabrications qualifications so they can do fitting on drills as well as make structural components, allowing us to fully utilise our staff. Staff gain extra qualifications and extra job security.”
“We make sure our current plan for training will also meet our future business needs,” says Sandra. “By exploiting the VET system’s flexibility and deciding our training’s ‘when, where, who and how’ we can contextualise it for Hy-Performance. We also do our research before selecting an RTO because we’ll be forming a partnership with them.”
Hy-Performance doesn’t just train its own staff but helps to educate others in its industry. In addition to work experience and university students, customers send their apprentices and fitters to spend time with Hy-Performance.
Sandra says that the success stories of the Australian Training Awards motivate others to say “I should try that!” She particularly wants more businesses to get that idea.
“The key message,” says Sandra “is that businesses can’t afford not to train their staff.”