Stories
November 2021. In August, a new batch of industrial and commercial trainees started their courses at SCHÄFER WERKE. But just like last year, their training will once again be plagued by a worldwide pandemic. These young people will be learning their future trade under quite unprecedented circumstances. “In the interview, I had most of my face covered by a mask, I greeted my future boss with a quick ghetto fist-bump, and then we both proceeded to stick test swabs up our noses.” That’s how Max Waldrich, who has just started a course as an industrial management assistant, describes the impressions he gained in the first few days. Having to avoid contact in a new company is unusual when, in the beginning, actually making contacts is so important.
However, thanks to a very good, specially set-up crisis management system and well-considered hygiene concepts, Schäfer Werke had been providing free masks and rapid lateral flow tests before many other companies. In their choice of ideas and solutions for enabling the trainees to get to know each other and the departments they’ll be working in, the instructors were very creative. They came up with numerous ways of keeping the training courses interesting and attractive, despite the adverse circumstances.
Two of these innovative ideas didn’t have their origins in the pandemic, but have been actually been tried and tested trainee projects for some years. When asked how the ideas for the trainee rally and the “get-to-know-you” seminar came about, Ralf Braun (chief instructor for industrial trainees), just grins and says: “Sometimes my colleagues and I just throw mad ideas around and if we come up with any good ones, we try to put them into practice.”
Trainee rally – crossword puzzles with a learning effect
In the second week, the first of these projects is on the agenda – the trainee rally. In small, mixed groups of commercial and industrial trainees, the idea is to spend two days getting to know the company, the departments and the staff. “I thought it was a very interesting way to get to know all the faces behind the various departments”, says Max Waldrich.
The rally begins with a department-related question and the answer can only be found in the relevant department. There, they get the next question about another department and so on. The answers are all written into a crossword puzzle to make up a key word solution. This way, the trainees get to know each other in a relaxed atmosphere; of course, with a prior rapid lateral flow test, and in full compliance with face-mask and social distancing regulations – part of a hygiene system that has proven very successful.
Get-to-know-you seminar: helping hands altogether
Strict observance of the hygiene concept was also the key to holding the “Get-to-know-you” seminar in Elkhausen. All first-year apprentices, the instructors and an external trainer gathered together for three days. In groups, they worked on presentations about the SCHÄFER Werke Group’s different divisions and presented them to each other. A major focus of the seminar was the team building measures. “My partner was blindfolded and I had to guide them safely through an obstacle course without speaking; only using gestures, like tapping them on the shoulder. It was good fun, but you also felt the responsibility, as well. When I was blindfolded, I realized I had to trust my partner completely,” recalls Max.
These two projects show that with creative thinking, cooperation among colleagues and the discipline of all participants, lots of things are possible even during a Covid 19 pandemic, and this strengthens the team spirit. "A nice thought is that after the rally and the seminar, we didn’t feel like separate groups of industrial and commercial trainees any more, but like 1st year apprentices at Pfannenberg in 2021," says Max enthusiastically.
Through the pandemic with experience and transparency
“With these two projects, SCHÄFER WERKE are pioneers in the region. Hardly any other company has anything comparable on offer. Over the years, we’ve worked on developing and improving our trainee projects. We found solutions for dealing with Covid-19 quite quickly. And that’s exactly what makes the project and the training courses at SCHÄFER WERKE so successful – experience and commitment!” That’s how Ralf Braun sees it.
Experience is something the two training instructors, Ralf Braun und Wolfgang Weber, have plenty of, because they themselves began their own vocational training here over 30 years ago. “I’ve trained a lot of my current colleagues myself“, grins Wolfgang Weber.
Hardly anyone can assess the difference between training before and during the pandemic better than these two, who have been in the thick of the action right from the beginning. But it’s a special challenge for them, too, because they have had to find new ways and new solutions. Dealing with trainees who actually fall ill or are in quarantine is particularly difficult, because as training instructors, they both bear a great responsibility towards both the young people and the company. The stipulated protective measures make it impossible to establish and maintain contact with trainees to the same extent as before the pandemic.
Despite all this, both have managed to make that personal connection to their trainees. Their experience means they never lose their cool and they regularly remind the trainees that all communication channels are open to them. Whether by email or in team meetings, on the phone or with a mask in the offices, Wolfgang Weber and Ralf Braun always have an ear for their protégés.
"With their open and friendly manner, they pass on exactly the right values to us and create an environment in which, even in Corona times, we don't feel left alone but easy and supported." Something Max is obviously very happy about.