‘Industry needs co-ordinated approach to training’

Forwarding major KWE
has put its money where
its mouth is with regard
to industry training and
appointed a dedicated
manager to focus on
upskilling staff.
“The recession taught
us a lot of lessons,” says
managing director Arend du
Preez.
“A number of freight
forwarders have realised
that staff is our biggest
asset. It’s all we have and
unless we start investing in
the industry, the industry as
a whole will disappear.”
This has informed KWE
thinking for the future.
“We’ve now put
specific resources to
the task and appointed a
training manager, Liesl
van Jaarsveld, whose only
focus is training. She rolls
out training programmes,
develops modules and
ensures that staff get the
training they need to do the
job.”
Du Preez believes that a
more co-ordinated approach
to training is imperative.
While the industry offers
learnerships, it’s up to
every freight forwarder to
manage those learnerships
– and not every company
has a dedicated training
department.
“What we need is a
training school that trains
a few hundred people a
year who can come into the
industry with the knowledge
to do the work so that we
can start hiring at a lower
entry level cost – and maybe
that will stop job-hopping.”
While the recession
reined in this practice to a
degree, it’s starting again
because there are not
enough skills.
According to Du Preez,
the industry’s salary bill is
40-50% of its overheads.
“If every year we give
a 10% increase and we
don’t even get 5% from our
customers, it’s clear where
the industry is heading.
“It’s something that needs
to be fixed sooner rather
than later.”