Documentation of Competency, Awareness

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Af7082a

Hello,

I was wondering if people could share how they are documenting that individuals are competent in their position and also what you are doing in terms of awareness? We had an auditor come and speak with our company and we are weak on these areas. We are thinking of implementing a 90 day review form with a sign off in terms of if the individual is competent or not. Is anyone willing to share what you are doing in these areas? I'm a member of HR and new to this system, however how department is partially responsible for these items. If anyone is willing to give any advice, please reach out.

I'm also new to this board so please let me know if there is a better place for this question.

Thank you!
 

jack770214

Involved In Discussions
We have a company level quality online training class for quality awareness, it discusses how their jobs affect quality and the possible effects if (customer's) requirements are not met. Its a very short training and people have to take it once every 18 months and we try to keep the material relevant with current events and issues.

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Ursula_D

In our company competence of employees is documented/proved by detailed training plans and overviews, training assessments through participants, skills matrix ( required/existing skills) for each department, detailed job descriptions. Awareness is documented/ proved fory example through publishing ( online Intranet and on notice boards ): KPIs ( regularly in minimum once per month ), company and quality goals, quality guidelines, furthermore internal iatf 16949 workshops and trainings.
 

RoxaneB

Change Agent and Data Storyteller
Super Moderator
If you scroll down to the bottom of this thread you'll see some links to threads where we have discussed similar matters. Or you can try the Search function (blue bar near the top of the screen).

We have had extensive discussions on this matter and you may find something there of help. :D
 

Sidney Vianna

Post Responsibly
Leader
Admin
We are thinking of implementing a 90 day review form with a sign off in terms of if the individual is competent or not.
Welcome to The Cove. I recommend you do NOT succumb to implementing such a non-value added solution, which, would only exist to "satisfy" the external auditor lack of comfort.

Who has the biggest interest in assuring the people performing work are competent? The employer does. And, typically, the person's line manager is the best positioned assessor to make such determination. I am sure your organization does not hire anyone, without screening the candidate first, possibly some supervised OJT, some probationary status, etc... until they are "set free" to work. Isn't that part of the process to assess and determine competence?

As for awareness, awareness of what? Depending on what people need to be aware of, different means will be used.

Again, don't create valueless bureaucracy to appease an external auditor...

Good luck.
 

RoxaneB

Change Agent and Data Storyteller
Super Moderator
Hello,

We are thinking of implementing a 90 day review form with a sign off in terms of if the individual is competent or not.

Unless you mean an ongoing review, every 90 days for all employees, this approach is only applicable to new employees.

Competency applies to existing employees as well. What if a process changes? What if a document changes? What if the tech changes? What if there is a sudden cluster of complaints or nonconformances in a certain area or attributed to a certain team?

So, to build upon Sidney's point, not only do you want a process that will add value, but you want something that applies to all employees.

How is it currently done? It may be informal/ad-hoc, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear that there is something already in place, and it may simply be a case of either formalizing it, standardizing it, or perhaps tweaking it a bit to make it less bureaucratic.
 

John Broomfield

Leader
Super Moderator
Hello,

I was wondering if people could share how they are documenting that individuals are competent in their position and also what you are doing in terms of awareness? We had an auditor come and speak with our company and we are weak on these areas. We are thinking of implementing a 90 day review form with a sign off in terms of if the individual is competent or not. Is anyone willing to share what you are doing in these areas? I'm a member of HR and new to this system, however how department is partially responsible for these items. If anyone is willing to give any advice, please reach out.

I'm also new to this board so please let me know if there is a better place for this question.

Thank you!

Af,

Why not run a workshop for your leaders so they can prep their own materials and events to make their employees aware of their quality management system and it’s benefits?

Coming from your leaders the employees may take the QMS a lot more seriously.

Best not to suggest you’re doing this to close out an audit finding.

Have the leaders explain from their more noble reasons why they are doing demonstrating their commitment to their management system.

Make videos and edit them to become part of your orientation package for new staff.

John
 

AndyN

Moved On
Hello,

I was wondering if people could share how they are documenting that individuals are competent in their position and also what you are doing in terms of awareness? We had an auditor come and speak with our company and we are weak on these areas.

Before you go rushing off to do anything, what was it you heard that led you to determine a "weakness" in this respect? I'd caution you that "auditors" don't always know the appropriate way to implement this requirement...
 

Mark Meer

Trusted Information Resource
Before you go rushing off to do anything, what was it you heard that led you to determine a "weakness" in this respect? I'd caution you that "auditors" don't always know the appropriate way to implement this requirement...

I agree with AndyN. It'd be helpful to know how the auditor determined that you are "weak on these areas".

Did the auditor interview particular personnel, and find their knowledge lacking? Did they look at your processes documentation, and find that there isn't anything that covers awareness? Were they looking for records that they couldn't find?
 
A

Af7082a

Hi all,

So I wanted to add that this was in regards to the Corporate Office staff. She asked how did we know our staff was competent. We mentioned that we hire them off a job descriptions and if they meet the basic qualifications of the job then we assume that are competent. She think asks how do we know that they are competent in the way we do things and specific technologies we use at our company. We said that the managers train them often using on the job training. If after a couple of months we don't hear from the managers that there are any issues, we consider the team members competent. She stated there should be documentation of that process, so that's where the 90 day review came in to place. We are very good on our manufacturing side, we have work instruction audits and 5 day training plans and evaluations. However currently only salaried team members are evaluated once a year at annual review time. It's more of a no news is good news type of thing when determining if they are competent. So that's the issue that we are trying to adjust. We also had the idea of having each manager write out what they are using for their on the job training and having that on file for each job and then the 90 day review would just document that they were trained on each item as well as they were found competent in performing the tasks. We were going to have a semi annual reviews check ins with salaried team members. I hope this gives a little clarity to the situation.
 
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