中文3570字本科毕业论文（设计）外文翻译外文题目Staff training rated ‘absolutely pivotal’外文出处Knowledge training,2008(10):p46-47外文作者 Olivia原文：Staff training rated ‘absolutely pivotal’OliviaAs a recent survey reveals the importance that job seekers attach to an organization’s commitment to training, Olivia Hemmings talks to three companies whose investment in their staff is resulting in higher productivity, increased profits and better staff retention.For some job hunters, salary is the main consideration, while for others it is flexible working hours or even location. However, one prospect that unites 90% of travel industry job seekers is the promise of training and development, according to a survey by Abta and People 1st, the sector skills council for the hospitality. leisure travel and tourism industries.And it is easy to understand why. For the applicant, a company's commitment to staff training and development means a likely improvement in their performance, leading to progression up the career ladder.What is surprising, therefore, is that training is provided only by 43% of employers to all their staff each year, by 36% to most employees and by 19% to some. Two per cent of the survey's respondents said they provided no training or ongoing development at all. But three companies that do make significant investment in staff training — and are reaping the rewards — are Thomas Cook, Bales Worldwide and STA.THOMAS COOKWhat training is available?At Thomas Cook, overseas resorts staffs are given training from day one. Before departing the UK, they attend an eight-day residential induction to be taught the basic skills and behaviors they need to be a company representative. Once in resort, they receive up to 12 on-the-job training days before becoming a fully-fledged rep.But training doesn't stop there. Elinor Carr, learning and development manager for Thomas Cook holiday division, says it offers overseas resort staff a clear progressionpath.In fact, regular training sessions are delivered throughout the season and staffs are presented with a range of development opportunities, including Stars, the Senior Training and Recognition Scheme.This training initiative has career progression at its core. Split into three levels, the scheme aims to train up frontline staff to first-line management, then second-line management and finally resort management level, using rigorous training courses. Employees who successfully complete all three levels can then consider the Overseas Management Development Programme (OMDP} if they wish to learn about the wider Thomas Cook business.For this programme, managers attend courses in the UK and complete operational and management modules. Operational modules teach managers about yield management and explain the commercial factors driving the business. The management and leadership modules look at the individual's management style and personality and assess what impact they have on their leadership.Most companies are poor at developing their executives, and most of them acknowledge this: only 3 percent of the 6,000 executives occupying the top 200 positions at 50 large US corporations examined by a recent McKinsey survey strongly agreed that their organizations developed talent quickly and effectively.1 In no area of executive development—job rotation, traditional internal and external training, or mentoring—did a majority of these executives believe that their employers were doing a good job (Exhibit 1).Some companies feel that their high performers will rise to the top naturally, like cream. Others, believing that talent can be bought, try to recruit executives from such sources as General Electric, a famous developer of people. In fact, though businesses should look for senior-level talent outside their own organizations, they themselves must also be good at developing it. In the first place, as talent becomes scarcer—and demography suggests that it will—the "buy-only" strategy becomes risky and expensive. Moreover, recruiting all of a company's senior executives externally sacrifices cultural cohesion and institutional memory. In any case, companies thatcan't develop their own talent find it hard to attract good people from the outside.Job experience drives executive developmentCompanies develop executives in various ways: by giving them feedback, coaching, mentoring, and training. But more than anything else, executives need on-the-job experience in appropriate positions. What makes positions appropriate? Four considerations are crucial.The first is the way a job is structured: the executive who holds it should have both headroom (authority and responsibility) and elbow room (scope and variety). Organizations that are decentralized or that have many "P&L jobs"—in which the holder's decisions are linked to, and measured by, the company's profit or loss—therefore create more opportunities for development than organizations that do not.Second, people with high potential should move through a series of challenging jobs, for after two or three years the learning curve in any position tends to flatten out, and capable people start to chafe. How long any one person should stay put varies with the business, the extent of the challenge, and that person's ability to grow. One company's line executive held 18 positions in 24 years, and though not everyone can or should move so quickly, companies tend to leave executives in jobs much too long. Third, this series of jobs should provide a range of challenges. Working in different geographic regions or with a variety of bosses requires executives to master new contexts. Leading a turnaround, stimulating a stagnant business, and influencing a company from a staff position draw on different skills.Finally, executives need to learn their craft from highly skilled colleagues as well as superiors. The ability to lead can in part be acquired through apprenticeship, and apprentices learn more from world-class experts and leaders than from mediocre ones. Success, moreover, breeds success, so good people are likelier to stay with an organization that has many other good people.Why does Cook invest in training?"We're a people business. We put them at the top of our agenda," explains Phil Bamfather, head of learning and development for Thomas Cook holiday and central.He says well-trained staff are "absolutely pivotal" in the company's success.Phil says that the skills, knowledge and understanding that come with training also increase organizational performance, such as sales and service delivery targets, as well as employee satisfaction.Elinor adds that it's important that staff can see how they add value and that the business is interested in investing in them. She says programmes such as Stars help ensure staff stay within the business and are promoted from within."Staff retention is one benefit of our training scheme," she explains.It also helps Cook with succession planning, when people move up or out of one area of the business and into another.BLAES WORLSWIDEWhat training is available?Susan Rock, inhouse training coordinator at Bales, gives new sales employees six to eight weeks of dedicated one-to-one training.First, new sales and operational staff are introduced to the company's written standards and its brochures. They are then taught about the reservations system Galileo, airline contracts and how to make quotes and take bookings. By the end of the course, the trainees are taking calls and doing the job under supervision.Bales also places a great deal of importance on the need for ongoing development of its staff through product and sales training. Product training involves at least two overseas trips every year for sales staff to gain in-depth knowledge of the destinations. On each trip they can visit up to 10 locations.Sales training is delivered by an external training company which runs three full-day, off-the-job training sessions each year- Training sessions can vary from phone skills to communication techniques that convey conviction in the product.The role of job experience in driving growth is fairly well understood. Thus, it is striking that only 10 percent of the 6,000 executives McKinsey surveyed thought that their companies used job assignments effectively. The problem is that the people who control the process—senior line executives—don't adequately factor development into their decisions. A division president naturally finds it safer to appoint an experienced,highly qualified candidate to a key position than to take a chance and stretch a possible future leader. Furthermore, that division president might not know how to use job experience to develop people: in the McKinsey survey, 48 percent of human-resources executives said that most executives think development is simply a function of training programs.Except for action learning and early training in managerial skills, training programs just are not capable of producing truly great executivessuch programs are often favored because they are highly visible, as well as simple to create and run, and by establishing them an HR department can show that it is doing its bit to nurture people. But with two exceptions—action learning, built around real work projects, to a small group of promising people, and in fact result in action. One project in a GE executive development course required a team to assess the company's investment strategy in South Korea. After four weeks partly spent in that country, the team presented its recommendations to GE's top 28 executives, who based the company's investment decisions largely on those recommendations.Why does Bales invest in staff training?Vivienne Thorn, human resources director at Bales, regards staff training as the future of die company."In all strategic plans for a company and where it's going, you have to include staff training so they can deliver. It's integral to meeting business objectives," she says. Offering the highest level of customer service is a key business objective at Bales. Thom says ensuring staff have the skills to carry this out is one of the reasons behind their "tremendous" investment in employee training.Rock says the training programme also ensures consistent practice across staff. "The benefits of our one-to-one training is the speed at which we can get trainees up to the standards we want, and the learning process is consistent for everyone," she says.The intensive induction has other benefits, says Thom. These include staff making fewer mistakes, feeling supported in their role and "going that little bit extra".In terms of sales achievements. Bales conversion rates have risen from 20% in2004 to 29% last year, and customer complaints have reduced.STA TRAVELWhat training is available?Inconsistencies in induction and management training in the past recently prompted STA to overhaul its training to bring all branches in line with one another. STA offers an informative induction programme and an ongoing development scheme for staff, plus specialist training.The scope of training is now regularly adapted to meet staffs changing needs, and often it is in response to employee feedback.The induction process is an intensive three-week programme that includes basic geography, plus lessons about the company's systems. Presentations are also given by other department heads about the activity they oversee, providing new recruits with an overall company picture. In the second week, inductees spend one day with their branch, shadowing consultants and learning about the booking process. The third week is given over to sales techniques.Trainees are then put into a branch for seven weeks where the branch manager will guide them through other processes and teach them the additional skills they require. Elsewhere, management personnel are also offered a varied learning programme, with training about how to hold a meeting, setting objectives, getting the most out of staff, driving sales and time management.A new initiative in STA's training portfolio is a personal leadership programme which is open to branch managers as well as senior staff. The three-day course aims to provide the leadership and communication skills necessary for managers be able to take owner-ship of a problem and deal with it, rather than refer it to their manager. Why does STA invest in staff training?Catherine Wilson, STA's human resources director, says the company tries to establish its targets as a business, and then provides its people with the skills to achieve them.As well as having increased knowledge to drive sales, Wilson believes training helps to engage employees by demonstrating what's expected of them. She says it alsogives them the ability to be flexible and adapt to the job."We're keen to promote that people don't just come to work for work's sake and for the money but that they come because they want to work for us as a company," she says.STA's commitment to staff investment appears to be paying off. In the past 12 months, employee turnover has been cut by 20%, and sales and revenue have also increased.译文：员工培训被评为“绝对的关键”奥利维亚由于最近的一项研究表明了求职者对公司培训员工的承诺的重视，Olivia Hemmings 告诉三家公司，它们在员工身上的投资将会获得更高的生产力，额外的利润和员工对公司更好的忠诚度。