Aspen SA Operations continues to transform the learning and development landscape with the graduation of Chemical Operations learners

23 May 2022 – Aspen SA Operations recently held a special graduation ceremony to celebrate the achievements of our staff, specifically recognising those who completed the NQF 2 Chemical Operations learnership programme through the facilities pioneering Learning Academy in Port Elizabeth.?

In attendance were the learnership programme graduates, members of SA Operations management, and the Learning & Development team who have walked the journey with the learners since they started the programme.?

The Learning Academy is a collaboration between the Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority (CHIETA) and Aspen South African Operations.

Recognising those who completed this programme is an important milestone in the overall learning and development journey for SA Operations.?

The need for the learning academy was identified in 2016 after CHIETA gave the company a grant to conduct a skills audit meant to assist with human resource development and management. The skills audit project was then rolled out sector-wide to assist companies with similar skills development needs for identification and management in the 2017/2018 financial year.?

The Aspen skills audit covered 1159 employees across 17 job functions to identify the skills gaps within the business.

“The results from the skills audit were an eye-opener. Over 1000 learning needs were identified and with the help of CHIETA, we identified 36 employability skills and packaged them into 10 categories to develop sustainable learning courses,” said Branson Bosman, Head of Human Capital.

One of the most important findings across SA Operations was that there was a gap in applied knowledge.?

“After reviewing these findings, we put our heads together and in 2017/2018 presented a proposal for Aspen’s first Learning Academy to CHIETA. We had great ideas on how we were going to transform the learning and development landscape, migrating from the traditional pharmaceutical manufacturing SOPs to having Aspen as a place where employees can apply and complete learnerships which qualify themselves with SA accredited learnerships”, said Bosman.?

The vision of the learning academy is to create a continuous learning culture by inspiring, leading, and enabling our employees to be lifelong learners so that they can continue to grow in the organisation.

Staying true to this vision and fast-forward to 2019, we accepted our first intake for the pilot NQF 2 Chemical Operations Learnership programme, these employees were recognised at the graduation ceremony. The employees were selected through an application process, upon acceptance embarked on a 12-month journey which unfortunately took longer to complete due to the Covid-19 pandemic.??

As a registered South African qualification, the employees had to go through a series of assessments completed at the learning academy as well as on-the-job assessments.

“This is an extremely proud moment for us, as these employees are embarking on a progressive qualification in Chemical Operations which aims to enhance applied workplace knowledge,” said Bosman. By completing this programme, they can now progress to the NQF 3 accreditation, therefore, making these employees more marketable.??

Supporting Bosman’s sentiments was Christiaan Theron, Executive for SA Operations who said, “completing a qualification of this nature during a pandemic, maintaining personal obligations whilst working takes extraordinary effort which is worthy of celebration. We sincerely congratulate all our employees who put their hands to embark on this journey of learning and development”.?

Theron continued to say, “if we stop learning we become irrelevant; Aspen provides learning opportunities to not only support the growth and development of our employees but ensure that our organisation remains relevant”.?

This is only the beginning for the SA Operations team who are currently working tirelessly on other learnership qualifications which will support our employee’s growth and will strive to amplify our continuous learning culture.

Another notable achievement is that SA Operations was awarded a seat on the Community of Exert Practitioners (CEP), enabling the team to provide input into new qualifications as they are developed. They also represented the Pharmaceutical industry and its relevance to the new qualifications that will be replacing what is known as the current ‘historically registered qualifications.

Since its inception, Aspen’s learning academy has successfully presented 168 employees with learnership opportunities focusing on; Business Administration Services, Pharmacist Assistants, Automated Packaging Operations, Generic Principles of Project Management, Generic Management, etc. In addition, the academy has offered 44 annual internship opportunities focused on a variety of disciplines such as Analytical Chemistry, Industrial Engineering, Microbiology, and Pharmacy. Representation in these respective programmes is 58% female and 42% male respectively.