For local companies, soft skills training is key to business

planning, conflict management among workers, and even listening, which is especially important for managers and sales staff.

Courses can also be designed to meet a company’s specific needs.

The cost of training can vary widely, with short-term, one-day classes for several students taught by one trainer costing as little as NT$3,000 to NT$6,000 an hour.

Some firms charge NT$10,000 to NT$30,000 per student for a weekend session, depending on the facility and the food provided.

Per-class prices can also go up to NT$7,000 to NT$10,000 an hour or even NT$25,000 an hour.

The non-profit TAITRA offers long-term training, charging NT$200,000 per year per student, including room and board, as well as cheaper six-month classes for NT$115,000, or several thousand NT dollars for short, three-hour classes.

E-learning is also available for companies that cannot afford to send their employees to classes. Training companies put their course material into digital format for students to learn at their convenience.

Some local cities’ department of labor offer subsidies for training or free classes, although those are generally geared toward hard skills, such as for the tourism, fashion, and culinary industries, including how to greet guests in a foreign language, sew, serve customers and make snacks.

The Council of Labor’s Bureau of Employment and Vocational Training (BEVT) offers subsidies of 25 percent to 70 percent of the cost of training if companies come up with a training plan that the BEVT approves.

The benefits of training are hard to measure and statistics on its effects are not available. But companies that have undergone training said it has increased productivity and efficiency, and at the very least brought managers and employees together to discuss ways to improve company performance.

Liu’s hardware manufacturing company paid for training on sales, negotiations, purchases, team building, leadership, as well as how to interview job applicants and how to conduct staff performance reviews.

“In the past, managers didn’t know how to communicate what they wanted to employees and employees were not assessed. Now managers know how to communicate and it’s very clear why someone is promoted and others are not,” Liu said.

The company spends NT$500,000 to NT$1 million a year on training.

“The results are there, it’s just hard to verify that they are due to the courses. ... I notice some employees’ performance seem to be better,” said Liu.

One obvious change, he said, is that the people the company hires are more appropriate for the job.

“We learned to judge the applicants not just by what’s on paper. We learn to judge their personality. If we’re trying to hire a sales rep, for example, we ask them if they’ve traveled overseas. If they’ve never traveled and stay home all the time, then they’re definitely not extroverted and not suitable for the job,” said Liu.

In these tough economic times, Liu’s company has not cut its training budget.

“If we’re doing poorly financially, we might cut a little, but we won’t completely stop our training. Downturns last one or two years, so they shouldn’t affect a company’s long-term development,” said Liu.

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