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A few months ago, Spitex Zurich Limmat was recognized for its excellent training culture as a Great Start! training company for its excellent training culture. In addition to the survey of apprentices, the company's training concept is also included in the assessment. Find out in an interview with Kerstin Schmölzer, Head of Training at Spitex Zürich Limmat, what has changed since the switch to a self-organized training department, what makes a great training culture for her and why they decided to work with Great Place To Work®.
Great Place To Work®Congratulations once again on the Great Start! Award. Such positive results in your industry are not a matter of course. What does the Great Start! training company mean to you? And what is your secret?
Kerstin SchmölzerThank you very much! The feedback from the apprentices makes us proud and the award shows us that we are on the right track. /Laughs.../ Our secret is probably the dedicated vocational trainers who give their all every day to train their apprentices and a cooperative management team that attaches great importance to training in the company. Over the past five years, we have changed a lot and completely rebuilt the training department together.
What's new?
Kerstin Schmölzer: The vocational trainers are a self-organized unit with a focus on education. This means that they are not assigned to the care teams and can devote their full attention to the learners and their needs. The same also applies to the apprentices: They are associated with the care teams, but are not part of their staff. Duty rosters and schedules are therefore written by the vocational trainers, not by the individual care teams. The ability to schedule our apprentices on the basis of their skills, rather than according to the needs of the care teams, sets us apart from other companies. Training is our top priority!
In which areas are the apprentices still being trained?
Kerstin Schmölzer: Our training culture consists of allowing students to acquire not only their learning objectives in nursing, but also administrative skills in project form. In various project groups (and, of course, with our support if necessary), apprentices and students have the opportunity to participate in the organization and implementation of in-house practical learning days and learning workshops, as well as in projects.
What do I mean by projects for learners?
Kerstin Schmölzer: The Skills Lab project, for example, was launched through an initiative of the Canton of Zurich's talent promotion project. As part of the "Talent Promotion Plus" program, we also offer trainees the opportunity to learn project management tasks and put them into practice at the same time. A direct need of everyday life was put into practice through the realization of the project. We have found that apprentices are very willing to contribute their various skills and thus identify strongly with the institution. As most of the pedagogical measures are carried out by our own vocational trainers, they all have the appropriate qualification (SVEB 1), which goes beyond the minimum requirements of the basic vocational training course. Our aim is to provide our apprentices with the best possible theoretical and practical support.
This certainly requires a lot of resources on the part of the trainers.
Kerstin Schmölzer: Definitely! In order to be able to implement this close support on a professional and human basis, 20 full-time equivalents are planned for each apprentice and student. Because our apprentices are actively integrated into all activities and work closely with their trainees, apprentices and their vocational trainers already select each other during the recruitment process (assessment) - the match has to be right. So far, we have received a lot of positive feedback from our apprentices about this close support.
Were there any nasty surprises in the learner survey conducted by Great Place To Work®?
Kerstin Schmölzer: That is always a question of perspective, but no, fortunately not. It was very exciting for us to read the anonymous feedback from the learners and we received some suggestions. One point that we have since implemented was the 18th birthday: we had not previously celebrated this special event in the lives of young people, which some apprentices thought was a shame. A new "18th birthday budget" was approved in discussion with the management and the operating regulations were amended.
Of course, this is just one example. In general, the Great Place To Work® survey is helpful in terms of getting honest feedback and seeing where you stand. What helped us more than originally expected was the submission of the company training concept. In some cases, not all of our own processes were written down in detail. This requirement for the Great Start! certification "forced" us to reflect on our measures and record them in writing. This also makes it clear what may have been done by tradition but has not been scrutinized for a long time. Writing down the training concept has shown us what we have to offer as a training company and that, as an attractive employer, we can also provide the next generations of apprentices with a comprehensive range of training opportunities.
Would you like to find out how you too can become a Great Start! training company?
