ABC Life Literacy Canada

Palliser Furniture draws on hard experience to build a loyal, productive workforce

Below is an excerpt from “Deep-Seated Commitment,” an article about Palliser Furniture’s workplace training program that appears in the first issue of Canadian CEO. If you would like to receive a copy of the full article for reprint in a newspaper or newsletter, please contact ABC Life Literacy Canada by e-mail at info@abclifeliteracy.ca.

Art DeFehr, CEO Palliser Furniture

Art DeFehr, chief executive officer of Winnipeg-based Palliser Furniture, has firm views about the right way to build up an effective workforce - and readily concedes that the right way may not be the easiest way. The key, he says, is to look for clues to distinguish a good worker who may just need some basic training from one who isn’t likely to make it with all the training in the world. It can be a tough call, especially if the applicant has shaky language skills. Most companies make the ability to speak and read the language of the business a fundamental requirement for hiring anyone, but DeFehr thinks this is a mistake. “If you can’t do the interview properly, it is a hassle,” he agrees, understanding the inclination to make basic literacy a bottom-line requirement. “But then the person with zero track record and zero language may be turned down, even though the individual may be highly motivated, highly trainable and likely to stay.”

These are exactly the qualities DeFehr values in Palliser employees, which is why the furniture manufacturer depends on Basic Skills Training to bolster its strategy to build a reliable, committed workforce. The majority of Palliser’s 4,500 employees are immigrants, with varied backgrounds from about 70 countries. When they started out, many were unskilled readers and speakers of English. Some were illiterate even in their mother tongues. Yet now they make up the core of the company’s employees. Palliser’s training program, which has evolved over about a decade, has played its part in fostering strong loyalties - to the point where it has hired employees in recent years whose parents have been with the company for 20 years. “Treat people well, and, in the long term, they’ll stay,” says DeFehr. “It’s good business for us to make these people effective in our workplace.”