The difference between trained and competent workers

In today’s workplace, it is critical you are maintaining a safe environment for your workers, which starts with making sure you are hiring competent workers. However, an important question to ask yourself, is whether you’re hiring competent workers or just trained workers?

What is the difference between a trained and a competent worker?

Although the terms trained and competent are frequently used interchangeably, there is a clear difference between a trained and a competent worker. A worker is trained after completing courses to receive qualifications or certificates. However, competency derives from many factors, including knowledge, understanding, training, skills, and experience. Ultimately, training alone does not mean a worker is competent. 

How does MyPass help you access competent workers?

At MyPass, our digital worker platform transfers the responsibility of maintaining compliance information to the worker so they are accountable for the ongoing upkeep of their documentation. The system sends out automatic expiry notifications to workers so they can book and complete training within the MyPass platform itself. Competency requirements for workers are also aligned to regulatory and industry requirements with the option to customise site-specific competencies, all of which are maintained in a centralised library. 

This means that our digital worker passport helps you access real-time information about workers, including their training and job history. Using our platform will reduce your time spent manually managing worker compliance documentation, helping you to move past capturing the bare minimum amount of information required to simply ‘check the box’. By moving towards seeing the full skills, experience, and capabilities of your workers, you can be put at ease that your workers are competent, and not just trained.