It's not a pay raise, but it has value as a show of good faith and a way to make people feel special. Cross training increases respect in the newsroom. By working closely with others in different departments, staff members get a newfound appreciation for what others do. In particular, copy editors can get a better sense of what reporters, assignment editors, photographers and designers are up against and learn to respect people for their different talents. Cross training provides a much-needed attitude adjustment.
Cross training creates friend-building.
It can be the path to a kinder, gentler newsroom. Cross training provides a hook to pull the newsroom together toward common goals to improve the newspaper. Let's look at four possibilities. An informal approach in which a staff member works an hour here or there in another department or another section of the same department. A crash-course approach in a staffing crisis.