PORT ANGELES — Peninsula College needs to offer more training courses on managing and supervising employees and a wide array of other topics to help local businesses succeed.
This was the message from a group of leaders from Clallam and Jefferson counties’ private business and public government sectors, who met with college president Tom Keegan and other college officials during a special two-hour roundtable forum Tuesday morning.
Keegan called the meeting to discuss how the college can better serve local employers’ needs.
Suggestions by forum participants ranged from the college offering additional four-year degrees to providing required training in professional specialties to developing inexpensive, one-day workshops on how to hire, fire and discipline fairly and legally and how to be a more effective supervisor.
Several employers noted that they had senior managers about to retire and that developing a group of new supervisors was a top priority.
Also suggested: seminars for new supervisors on legal issues in the workplace; helping train and prepare high school students for the local workforce and providing classes to update employers on the latest computer software for businesses.
“Our job is to help the community work with you to build the employees needed,” said Connie Poulsen, director of the college’s Leadership and Management Education Program.
Poulsen said college officials want to develop more training that will serve North Olympic Peninsula employers now and in the future.