Why on-job training means engaged and enthusiastic staff
23 June 2020
Rainbow Park Nurseries has been growing plants and trees since 1977, and now supplies over 1.5 million plants to retailers across the country from their 15-hectare nursery.
With over 60 horticulturists working to monitor pants, maintaining the highest standards of plant production and care, it is no wonder that General Manager Andrew Tayler places such high importance of training his team. “They’re more responsive, and require less supervision,” Andrew explains. “It’s an investment in them and an investment in the business. This way the guys own the crops and workspaces, they have the knowledge and skills, and most importantly, they stay with us.”
Rainbow Park is a large business, and Andrew needs his team to be able to produce quality plants on spec, and on time. “The team need to have nursery production skills to do this consistently, and to be able to maintain the crops to a high standard. By having experienced and qualified staff within our business whose responsibility it is to train staff, through the on-job training model, means we have engaged and enthusiastic staff who are more productive.”
Andrew has invested heavily in technology. With a rapidly expanding business and the need to plan accurately to meet customers’ requirements, the company has implemented a sophisticated production planning software package from Europe. This investment was a critical step in meeting the demands of customers for certainty of supply.
Labour is one of the most significant costs of the Rainbow Park Nursery operation, and technology enables his team to do more, and focus less on the manual tasks, which can be carried out by machines. This includes environmental systems, robotics, and automation.
These innovations have enabled us to grow our business, become more efficient and make our company a more rewarding place to work and a more sustainable company.”