Training helps company to avoid deep job cuts

摘要

An audacious move to avoid further cuts to the workforce during the recession by increasing employees'skills ready for the upturn has paid rich dividends for NACCO Materials Handling Group (NMHG). The company - which designs, engineers, manufactures and sells a wide range of lift-trucks and offers after-sales support globally - has eight sites in the UK, the largest of which employs some 520 people at Craigavon, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Four years ago, because of the recession, the company reduced its production from 88 to 23 trucks a day. Ninety people were laid off at Craigavon, the working week was cut from five to four days, premium-rate shifts were abolished, overtime was abolished and employees agreed to sacrifice 10 percent of their salaries. The measures took their toll on employee morale. The business was determined, though, to combine these measures with a more strategic response. It therefore sought to develop the skills of its remaining workforce through training.