Training and development for transitional employment in mature-aged manual workers

Author/s: Hitendra Pillay, Kathy Kelly and Megan Tones

Edition: Volume 50, Number 1, April 2010

Summary: The purpose of the current article was to explore perceptions of transitional employment and training and development amongst blue collar workers employed in technical, trade, operations or physical and labour-intensive occupations within the local government system. The responses of manual workers to two national surveys conducted by the local government association, namely, the Transitional Employment Survey (TES) and the New Initiative Survey (NIS) were analysed for occupational level differences using Chi square tests. Three quarters of blue collar workers were interested in phased retirement options. Technicians and operators were content to retain their current jobs, although technicians seemed to display a more self-directed attitude towards training and development. Tradespersons and labourers were interested in changing jobs, and appeared willing to pursue some training and development. A significant proportion of workers were interested in mentoring. Blue collar workers were interested in contributing to the future of the organisation via transitional employment. However, they may require support for their health and training needs.

Keywords: transitional employment, blue collar workers, manual workers, training and development

Facebooktwitterlinkedinmail  Share a copy of this abstract.

This article is part of AJAL, Volume 50_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.