AJD Forest Products Cross-Trains Staff Thanks to Going PRO Talent Fund Award
Running the office operations at AJD Forest Products is no easy task. Three staff members handle HR, payroll, and all accounting aspects and production of the company. There are so many issues that come up regarding legal issues, such as employee garnishments, wage deferments, workman's comp claims, etc. Two staff people have been with the company for a number of years, but the knowledge and expertise that is lacking but required to really know and understand the full accounting end of the business has been slowing the company down. In addition, one of the front office staff members is close to retirement, so they need to train staff to not only take over jobs and duties, but to understand and acknowledge concepts and theories of their accounting and book keeping operations.
With the help of Michigan Works!, AJD applied for Going PRO Talent Fund training dollars to help train their staff. They were awarded $3,658 to train three existing employees in Business Accounting and with the assistance of Kirtland Community College the training was able to be done right on-site at AJD.
Kirtland Community College had an educator who knew the accounting laws and principals tailored to what AJD Forest Products was needing training on. KCC listened to AJD’s needs and provided exactly what they needed to gain clear understanding of the principals and aspects covered in company operations accounting topics. After the training they received, the AJD staff is now cross-trained and can be each other’s back-ups.
HR Manager at AJD, Sherri Wallace, is thankful for the assistance received, stating, “I just wanted to take a moment to let you know how well our Going Pro training went. Tammy was excellent and she gave us all a better understanding of the accounting processes. She was very helpful in getting our processes down in writing so that if any of us were unexpectedly away from work for a prolonged amount of time others in the office would be able to fill in. Thank you so much for helping us get this training. We look forward to working with you in the future.”
In addition to Going PRO Talent Funds, AJD Forest Products has also benefited from the Michigan Works! On-the-Job Training program, and participated in an Industry Led Collaborative grant for training in Root Cause Analysis.