Prairieland Park
In May 2010, we interviewed Wendy Lawrence, Human Resources Manager, at Prairieland Park in Saskatoon. Prairieland Park is an events centre that produces, hosts, and facilitates a variety of events, including the Saskatoon Exhibition, Gardenscape, the Saskatchewan Youth Talent Search, and more. It employs about 300 staff year round, 100 permanent and 200 part-time. An additional 200 seasonal and special events staff are added as needed.
What is your HR philosophy or strategy?
Prairieland Park's HR philosophy recognizes [that] people are our key resource. To quote our CEO, "Our success lies on the shoulders of our team and how they carry out their duties and obligations determines the opportunity for new and continued business." Our strategy is to hire people who are customer service focused and train them to do their jobs well.
What challenges do you encounter in recruiting and retaining staff?
Some of the people we hire as casual and part-time staff works for us a short while then leaves to accept a full-time position. This starts the hiring and training process again.
Why do you experience these challenges?
We experience these challenges because we are event driven. Our need for staff fluctuates. Many people seeking jobs want to be able to work full-time or at least steady part-time hours. We are not always able to provide full-time or steady part-time hours. As a result, the next time we need some of our casual or part-time staff, they are not available due to other job commitments.
Is it difficult to get staff to participate in training?
No. Our staff appreciates the opportunity to participate in training.
Was it difficult to get staff to participate in this project?
No. The people we approached for the tourism Supervisor and Event Coordinator certification courses welcomed the training opportunity.
Is there anything special you are doing in the workplace to support Transforming the Tourism Workforce participants?
We give them work time to prepare for and complete their courses.
Are staff members performing differently as they work through the training materials provided by the project?
Yes. Staff who took the Workplace Trainer have said they learned many valuable tips and felt it helped them to understand different learning styles. For example, [two staff members] say Workplace Trainer helped them to understand there are different ways that people learn. They have used this knowledge to develop individual training programs based on different learning styles. They have observed employees who didn't "get it" using one training style "get it" with another training style.
Staff who participated in the Event Coordinator training felt it confirmed what they do and gave them some new ideas.
Staff in tourism Supervisor training felt it confirmed what they are doing as supervisors. They felt this is a good course for new supervisors and people wanting to become supervisors.
How do you measure what participants in the project are learning?
We are asking our staff to tell us how the training is assisting them to do their jobs better.
What impact would you like this project to have on your workplace?
Staff and supervisors well prepared to meet the demands of their position.
Anything else?
We appreciate the opportunity to participate in this program. Thank you.
