The Company management is realized that the clerical support services are important to ensure the smooth functioning of the organization. It is the responsibility of each Department Manager and Section Supervisor to pay more attention on secretarial and clerical training.
The following is a list of eight suggested segments in a clerical training program:
I. New Employee Orientation
This orientation must be basic and should contain all information the employee needs to know to work satisfactorily in the organization. Such as working hours, meal times, schedule of paydays, attendance policy etc.
II. Basic Task Training
The supervisor or Head of Department (HOP) could use on-the- job training to train new employees how to do simple or complex clerical tasks. It is better to involve the working manuals, booklets and sample work. The demonstration of Senior clerical staff is more helpful to let the new-employee learn faster.
III. Technical Refresher Training
Any changes in the Company usually impact the work of the concerned employees as soon as they occur. If so, the clerical staffs need to refresh and to follow different procedures. It is useful to apply informal discussion sessions between the employees.
IV. Time Management
Some of the clerical work is placed on task organizing, expedient work processing etc. Good time management could promote the work efficiency. Ask each employee to write out a list of tasks that must be done in the coming month. During the month as each task is completed. The employee makes a notation to that effect. And as unexpected tasks come along, they are added to the end of the list. At month's end, sit down with the employee to review the month's results. Give the employee an opportunity to explain why some tasks did not get done and why new tasks were added. Use this process to educate the employee to understand the time control.
V. Written Communication
The writing skills training for clerical employees could save a lot of administrative time for the management personnel. The training program should consist of three parts:
VI. Interpersonal Relations Training
The clerical employee may help his/her superior for receiving visitors, taking phone calls and messages, arranging appointments, travel plans and meetings. A lot of interpersonal skills are required to practices. This training concerns human interaction; it may focus on heightened self-awareness, team building, group norms & feedback, etc. An employee who is trying to learn how to interact more successfully with a customer has several alternatives:
VII. Life/Career Planning Workshops
These workshops are designed to help individuals reach into their past experiences both their successes and their failures and think about the future: Where they want to go and what resources they have for getting there. Using a series of activities, each participant identifies a variety of possible goals and lays out a tentative action plan for accomplishing them.
VIII. Special outside Training Program
Some programs are offered by business schools or University as well as Counseling Company. Those programs should improve the clerical employee's work productivity, quality or attitude. The Company tuition refund program will be applied on these requests for outside training.
Thank you.
John Chiang
Shanghai, China