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About three times each week 60-year-old Richard McKinnon takes a break from his job and returns to the classroom to brush up on his math; the final step on his belated journey to earn his high-school diploma. Of course, there’s nothing unusual about a high-school dropout cracking the books again—what is unusual is his classroom, which is located inside a french-fry factory.
McKinnon is just one of dozens of employees at Prince Edward Island-based Cavendish Farms who have taken advantage of the company’s unique on-site school to either enhance their education or upgrade their skills. An employee of the Canadian spud giant since he was a teen, McKinnon had thought about going back to school for years but never seriously pursued it until the company introduced its Learning Centre in 2004.
The classroom—which is free for employees and their families—is located at one of its two processing plants in New Annan, P.E.I and is funded entirely by Cavendish Farms. The unconventional school is open Monday through Friday, and is equipped with all of the standard trappings of the modern classroom; including computer workstations, textbooks, a chalkboard and a full-time licensed teacher.
The one thing the Learning Centre does not share with a standard classroom though is class size. At any given time there are fewer than 10 students on hand, allowing for one-to-one instruction—a benefit for many of the employees who were either turned off or did not succeed in a traditional classroom setting. Small class sizes and the convenience were two of the main reasons that McKinnon enrolled; the classroom is less than a kilometer away from the potato farm where he works which makes it easier to fit it into his schedule.
When he began, McKinnon had five courses to complete to earn his GED (General Educational Development) diploma. He passed the first four then had a bit of difficulty with his first shot at math. After taking a year off, he re-enrolled early last year.
“I went because I wanted to go and I really enjoyed it; everything about it,” he says. “There was no pressure from anyone at work or at home to go—it's just something I wanted to do; a personal goal.”
McKinnon is a good example of the kind of employee benefitting from Cavendish Farm’s investment in workplace learning. Not having stepped inside a classroom for more than four decades, the on-site Learning Centre provides a friendly and unintimidating way to update his academic resume—and refresh his job-related skills at the same time.
Debbie Miller, the centre’s teacher, makes a point of offering a range of courses including traditional topics like Math, English, History and Biology (which count towards a student’s GED) and professional classes in computers, accounting and small business development. Most of her students make appointments ahead of time to see her, either during work or on their days off, then work on individually designed programs in the classroom, and home if needed.
“It's really rewarding to see people grasp something they didn't know before, especially with computers,” Miller says. “People can make such great gains in such a short time.”
The Cavendish Farms Learning Centre opened in 2004 as both reward and incentive for its more than 800 employees. The fourth-largest processor of french fries and frozen potato products in North America, the company is committed to keeping pace with technological advancement at its two plants in P.E.I. and a third in North Dakota. It realized that many of its long-time workers did not possess the skill sets required for the new technology, so there was a financial logic at work with helping them upgrade their skills.
For example, entry-level jobs that did not require high school or post-secondary education were the norm for the company 30 or 40 years ago. Because it operated in a rural area where enrollment in formal education often took a back seat to helping with the family farm, the company initially trained workers on the job. Many long-term employees started on that basis and have worked their way into supervisory or management positions.
But today, particularly with the addition of a second, more mechanized plant at this site, its workers require more computer literacy skills and advanced prose literacy and numeracy skills.
“It's a reality of our business,” says Colin Roop, Cavendish Farms Human Resources Manager. “There is more work with computers, there's paperwork, there are checklists that people need the skills to be able to complete. If someone isn't comfortable or doesn't have those skills then as a company there is an impact, both at a corporate and on a crew level. If you have someone who’s struggling, then someone else has to do that work. If someone has difficulties reading an instruction sheet or a manual or a diagram, obviously it's going to affect our products and what we provide to customers. So having this on-site is very important.”
To show their commitment, for every hour an employee spends at the Learning Centre Cavendish Farms pays them to attend for another hour, for up to two hours of paid time a week. It's a sincere investment in workplace training that the company believes is paying dividends.
According to Miller, about 12 percent of the company’s workforce is using the centre at any given time (not including family members who also use the resource). In 2008, 118 employees signed up for courses and more than two-thirds of them passed. The majority of students enrolled in computer courses, including specific skills such as learning to use Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, email programs or PowerPoint.
Others enrolled in the GED programs, like McKinnon, and a few receive basic literacy help from Miller. When students pass an academic course, Miller submits their marks to the Board of Education to upgrade their official transcripts, or she works with the board to set up tests for the employees trying to earn their GED. According to her, only one or two people a year withdraw from a course they’ve signed up for—and that’s usually because they’re leaving their job at the company. In fact, most employees are compulsive students, like Richard McKinnon, and return year after year.
McKinnon left high school in the 1960s (after graduating from Grade 9) to help run his family’s farm. Not long after he landed a job on one of Cavendish's potato farms, and has worked for the company ever since. Originally, his lack of formal education did not pose an impediment to advancement.
''It's a kind of hands-on operation—dealing with people—which I know I'm good at.”
But after being promoted to a farm manager, McKinnon found himself faced with a host of new challenges from drafting and managing budgets to technological advances such as computerized tractors that employ GPS.
“There were some things I didn't understand,” he admits.
However, through his participation in the Learning Centre he has earned the knowledge and skills to work on the job every day. Now, he can operate the technology and manage others who do too. He has also encouraged other employees to take courses.
“In our division, since [the Centre] started, others have graduated. It's all positive. They understand the technology in the tractors and the GPS systems—it has definitely helped them.”
This year, Cavendish Farms Learning Centre is expanding its course offerings to include more general interest workshops on everything from nutrition and resume building, to interview skills and how to start a small business. It's the company’s way of showing its support for the personal and professional goals of its employees; not to mention a great way of attracting new employees, says Roop.
''It’s part of our company's values. Our employees are the key to our success, and we support them,” he says. “And what better way to demonstrate that than having something on-site?”
Nancy Corney is another student at the Cavendish Farms Learning Centre who is working on her GED. She gets the opportunity to do so because her husband, Kent, is a Cavendish employee, and he is taking bookkeeping courses at the Centre. The couple decided to upgrade their skills together when they learned that both could benefit.
Corney struggled in school as a teenager, and hated it. She quit during Grade 9, and never looked back. But after five years of working at a minimum-wage job in restaurant in Summerside, PEI she understood the value of having high school education.
“These days you need your Grade 12 for certain jobs, and I just kick myself for dropping out,” she says.
Working at the Learning Centre is easier than it was when she was in a regular classroom, Corney says, and Miller helps her whenever she gets stuck on math or essay-writing. Corney's goal once she gets her GED is to get a better paying job, such as working in the kitchen at the local hospital.
In the meantime, she's the kind of student that Miller is enjoying teaching.
“It's really nice to work with people who have chosen to learn,” she says. “I find you have more of a connection with them, because you are working one-on-one and you can give them the time and attention they deserve.”
The employees who attend the Learning Centre also know that they are improving the company's bottom-line and their own self-esteem.
“You just feel good about yourself,” says McKinnon.