When we learned that Food Processing Skills Canada (FPSC) was offering a Skills Training Across Canada Program, we jumped at the opportunity! It is not every day that seafood-specific training programs are available for our employees, so we felt the need to offer the opportunity to a diverse group of our people from across our operations.
“It is important that we provide our employees with continued learning opportunities,” says Martin Sullivan, CEO, Ocean Choice. “By availing of these types of opportunities, our employees are better prepared for future career growth. Supporting our employees with professional development, also helps improve employee relationships, morale, and job satisfaction.”
The Skills Training Across Canada Program provides comprehensive, online training along with one-on-one coaching to support participants. The program provides a robust curriculum that covers a wide range of topics, including social-emotional learning, food safety, leadership training, and diversity and inclusion that are all geared to people working in the seafood processing industry.
Learning about everything from how to foster respectful workplaces and how to effectively manage interpersonal relationships to how to prevent production problems, ensure employee safety, and learning about HACCP essentials, the program covers a broad range of topics.
As the lead for crewing Ocean Choice’s offshore fishing vessels, Lorraine Barnette is often the first point of contact for new hires and is in constant communication with our crews while they are working at sea. Here’s what Lorraine had to say about her learning experience and how it has benefited her. “The program provided me with an introduction to areas of the seafood sector as well as to other topics such as emotional intelligence, that I would otherwise not be exposed to,” says Lorraine. “As a result of the program, I have a better appreciation for other areas of Ocean Choice’s business, and I can honestly say that I have put into practice many of the things that I learned.”
It was important that we had a diverse cross section of our employees participate in the training so that we could maximize the opportunity across our entire operations. For this reason, we had everyone from captains, mates and factory managers employed on our offshore fishing vessels to quality assurance and occupational, health and safety professionals as well as employees in management roles participate in the program.
“As captain of Ocean Choice’s offshore shrimp vessel, I am responsible for the overall management of the crew and vessel while at sea – a responsibility that I am honoured to hold,” says Darrly Kelly. “I recognize that there is always room for improvement and growth, and this is what the STAC program was all about for me.”
FPSC is Canada’s food and beverage manufacturing industry’s workforce development organization. It is a non-profit that supports the professional development and continuous learning for food and beverage manufacturing establishments across Canada. To learn more about the Skills Training Across Canada Program, visit: www.stac-fpsc.com.
