Learning should not stop within the four walls of the classroom. For this reason, companies should provide employees a venue to further develop their potentials, if not discover more. There is a need for continuing education programs, mainly through training sessions and seminars. It is a pity, though, that when companies implement cost-cutting measures during economic slowdown, the budget for employee training is the first to go. Very few firms pursue their training programs, knowing too well that it is during times like these that a company’s human resources turn out to be the most important ingredient for company growth.

Even fewer are those who have the resources to build training facilities for their employees. But for those who do, the benefits of better-trained employees are sure to reflect in corporate bottom-lines.

The Don Filemon C. Rodriguez Training Center in Silang, Cavite and the Manolo M. Lopez Development Center (MMLDC) in Antipolo, Rizal both started as development arms of their respective companies, the Phinma Group of Companies and the Manila Electric Company (MERALCO). In the process, both companies found out that expanding their operations to external clients provided good a good opportunity to raise the sizeable income necessary for the maintenance of facilities and further development of their training programs.

The Don Filemon C. Rodriguez Training Center
Opened in September 1997 and formally inaugurated in January 1998, this training center of the Phinma Group of Companies was built initially to provide a state-of-the-art training facility for their rank and file, supervisory and engineering employees. This training facility boasts of a conference center, a technology center for workshop activities, a dining and recreation building, and a hotel.

According to Dr. Jesus Gopez, Executive Director of the Phinma training facility, “Since Phinma has a large activity in the cement industry, the concept was directed towards trade and the knowledge required to run a cement factory.” Electricians, plant mechanics, instrument technicians, heavy equipment mechanics, and engineers were the first internal clients of the training center.

The Don Filemon C. Rodriguez Training Center pioneered a facility that features not just conference and workshop rooms for technical courses, but also a gym that is open 24 hours a day

The year 1997 was a difficult beginning for Phinma’s training center. With the Asian economic crisis, the management decided to open the facility to the external market, especially since the training activities it provides, while being highly technical and specific, are also common to other companies in similar lines of businesses.

The Phinma training center also has been providing management and administrative skills courses, which they eventually developed, designed, and customized for particular clients through the help of both in-house and external trainors and former Phinma trainors.

But the hotel component of the training center is also key in the marketability of the facility. Companies may opt to just use the venue to hold meetings, conferences, or their own training activities and just make use of the board and lodging amenities and equipment of the training center.

The Manolo M. Lopez Training Center
On the other side of Metro Manila lies another huge training facility, the MMLDC, which MERALCO opened to the public in 1999. The MMLDC primarily has a strategic alliance with its mother company in developing training modules for MERALCO employees, owners, and suppliers. But MMLDC is also being used by external clients, mostly MERALCO shareholders, partner companies, and affiliate companies.

The courses it offers range from general education courses that touch on self-motivation and personal effectiveness, to more specialized engineering courses, and courses on management development, professional development, and process-based development.

MMLDC showcases an environment that is highly conducive to both learning and relaxation

One very marketable service of MMLDC is its team building seminar, complemented by an impressive adventure learning course. It is an obstacle course area where different groups can do physical exercises and activities that can be related to specific team building components such as change management, decision-making and visioning, among others.

Arthur Luis Florentin, Assistant Vice President and Human Resources Development Head of MMLDC, says most of the benchmarking for the facility was done abroad since they wanted to capture an ambience that will be conducive to learning. The result is a nine-hectare estate which houses conference halls with wall paintings, a museum featuring MERALCO memorabilia, an aviary with an exotic bird collection, and a mini-zoo. The purpose for this, Florentin stressed, is the feeling of relaxation and oneness with nature, with a good twist of learning.

The MMLDC is operated like a hotel, but the administration keeps in mind that their clients are there mainly for business development and training, more than just leisure. It’s a “corporate university” environment MMLDC wishes to create, with company employees enrolling in a continuous education program in their respective areas of work. The hotel rooms, just like any of the other conference rooms within the compound, have access to the internet, which comes in handy for clients who bring their own computer notebooks while attending their seminars.

The Industry Mix
Both the Phinma Training Center and MMLDC have unique offerings in order to provide a combination of two separate services: human resource development and the hotel industry. The strength, in fact, lies in the presence of the human resources element, enabling them to take on the role of consultants able to provide training needs analysis to companies. This is a definite value added to their service, aside from the facilities that these centers can make available to those who just need a venue to hold their own meetings, conferences, and seminars.

There used to be a time when human resource development was viewed as an added cost to the company with no great tangible value for business development. But in times of economic crisis, one of the wisest investments companies can make is insuring that employees feel their importance in the attainment of company goals. It is by building up the employees’ competencies during down times that companies are able to prepare for a major recovery once the economic situation starts to get better.