In one way or another, many businesses, large and small, support continuing education for their employees.
Learning is a life-long endeavor. It might be to pursue a passion or try something new, but it can also be to enhance a career and, if that’s the goal, many businesses will support an employee’s aspirations. It’s a winning strategy because it gives an employee a hand in being successful while building loyalty for the company. Ultimately, it’s a satisfying outcome for everyone.
In one way or another, many businesses, large and small, support continuing education for their employees. Racy Ming, director of the Workforce Investment Board of Marin and manager of the Employment and Training Branch of Marin County’s Department of Health and Human Services, recalls working with an auto shop that paid for an employee to attend auto mechanic school and a hotel that sent members of its housekeeping staff to classes in vocational English as a second language (ESL), showing the efforts employers will make to support workers and meet the specific needs of their businesses. She identifies home health care as a growing field, and her agency has an ongoing collaboration with providers to help furnish training for their employees and meet the increasing demand for caregivers. It’s a business where training is essential because the state requires continuing education for employees such as certified nursing assistants if they’re to keep their credentials current.
Bob Nations, owner of Senior Helpers franchises in Marin, Napa, Sonoma and Solano counties, encourages his employees to attend Red Cross courses, which Ming’s agency pays for with federal funds. He also provides incentives to motivate workers to improve their skills. “My whole premise is about quality over quantity,” he says. “I want the best caregivers.” Any employee who’d like to advance can attend Red Cross training to become a certified nursing assistant, and those who do so get bonuses upon completion. “I’m all about positive reinforcement,” says Nations. He describes a retired woman he hired for companion-level caregiving, which doesn’t involve any hands-on care. She discovered that she loved the work and, with Nations’ encouragement, decided to take more training. “She’s on track to becoming certified,” he says.
In addition to outside training, Senior Helpers offers in-house programs, and among them, Teepa Snow, an occupational therapist who gives dementia-training seminars throughout the country, periodically works with Senior Helpers employees to increase their skills and knowledge. Nations reports that everyone will develop some degree of memory loss eventually, whether it’s caused by normal aging or advanced dementia. “It’s a natural phenomenon,” he explains, and caregivers must know how to deal with it, so all his employees go through Snow’s six-hour training session to hone their skills. Senior Helpers also offers 24 self-study training modules, which cover everything from normal aging to personal care, and gives employees financial rewards for the successful completion of that program as well.
Although Senior Helpers, which has 200 caregivers plus office staff, provides financial incentives, “Money isn’t the number-one motivator,” says Nations. He believes that satisfying work, support and acknowledgment are factors in retaining good employees. “Everyone should feel special,” he says, adding that while his clients are his first priority, employees are equally important. The two go hand-in-hand—happy caregivers equal happy clients—and that gives him a sense of satisfaction as an employer. “When we get a good caregiver and client match, we consider that a homerun. When we get a homerun, I’m really happy,” he says.
On the honors list
In November 2013, when Training magazine announced its list for 2014 of businesses throughout the world with the best training practices, Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company, which is headquartered in Novato, made the cut. “We’re one of the top 125 training organizations,” says Don Serva, senior director, learning and development. With a workforce of more than 2,500 people, the company actively supports 32 programs and, on average, each of its employees dedicates 15 hours per year to continuing education. “It shows a level of commitment that lets people be away from their desks to sharpen their skills,” says Serva.
Chief among the programs that Fireman’s Fund supports are studies that lead to industry-related certificates, such as those issue by the American Institute of Property Casualty Underwriters, the Insurance Institute for America or the American Educational Institute. The programs let employees gain insurance expertise in particular areas of interest, and Fireman’s Fund rewards them with cash reimbursements for the cost of completing designations. Serva believes such achievements are a source of pride and professionalism that employees can add to their everyday jobs. “It’s a feather in their cap on their résumé,” he says, adding that giving support engages employees and helps with retention. “It’s more than just professional design,” he says.
Beyond industry-specific certifications, Fireman’s Fund offers leadership training, an underwriting academy that gives employees a chance to enhance their technical knowledge of the insurance industry and 2,000 offerings through its online learning center. In addition, its tuition assistance program will help employees who want to take university courses or earn degrees that are business-related with reimbursement of tuition fees up to $5,250. The company also offers internships in finance, accounting, marketing and information technology.
“We want to develop our people in a wide variety of ways,” says Serva, explaining that the strong points of the company’s approach are individual development plans and cross training. “It’s a much more holistic approach,” says Serva, describing it as “an ongoing, targeted view that makes the most of the people and the company.”
A balanced approach
Medtronic, Inc., one of the world’s largest medical technology companies, with world headquarters in Minneapolis and a several facilities in Santa Rosa, spent $51.3 million globally on employee development and $1.5 million in tuition aid to employees in 2012. “Employee development is something we’re very passionate about,” says Deborah Yount, vice president, human resource for Medtronic’s Coronary/RDN and Endovascular businesses based in Santa Rosa. “It’s a fundamental part of Medtronic’s fifth tenant of our mission, as we strive to recognize the personal worth of employees by providing an employment framework that allows personal satisfaction in work accomplished, security, advancement opportunity and means to share in the company’s success.”
She adds that the company encourages the employees to also take the initiative and define their aspirations, and the process usually starts with a conversation with their manager.
Because Medtronic is in a highly technical field, one employee might want to study anatomy, physiology and subjects specific to a product, while another employee might want training to develop negotiating skills or to learn how to give the company a competitive advantage. The company does a needs assessment to determine what’s required, then works with leadership and local management to ensure it provides the right program focus. “Every employee is expected to focus on what they need for their own personal development,” Yount explains. The result is a plan that provides an employee with feedback and evaluation from their manager that may include learning programs and training, as well as on-the-job experience.
Similarly, financial assistance for an employee who wants to attend college is based on a plan tailored to meet the needs of the individual as it relates his or her position in the company. All employees have access to tuition aid, but career aspirations and the needs of the business have to be in line, and employees must commit to staying with Medtronic for a specified amount of time after graduation. When asked about local college programs, Yount gives the hypothetical example of an employee in finance who wants to take on a larger role and decides to take Sonoma State University’s executive MBA program. “We’ve had quite a few employees who wanted to increase their business skills,” she says. “Medtronic has a highly educated workforce.”
Yount says Medtronic makes a tremendous investment in its employees and observes that the company’s support lets them focus on education. Among the benefits for Medtronic, “It provides us with an opportunity to continue employee engagement,” she says. “We’re maximizing our talent.”
Autodesk in San Rafael, a multinational software corporation that specializes in 3-D design software, is another company in a specialized technical field, and it supports employee learning as well, offering a variety of options for all levels of employment. The goal is to provide training that benefits the individual while building key competencies in the business, and courses include Autodesk products, technical skills training, management, professional skills and career development. The company also pays for memberships in professional organizations and subscriptions if they’re job-related and have management approval.
In addition, with approval from management, a full-time employee can enroll in a course at an accredited institution and be eligible for 25 to 75 percent reimbursement for the cost of tuition and books. “Autodesk offers tuition reimbursement for college courses that would benefit the employee in terms of career development at the company. For example, a finance person might want to get an MBA at night to further their career at Autodesk. With their manager’s approval, tuition reimbursement could be granted,” says Senior Training Consultant Heather Cowan.
“Additionally, we fund professional development through outside seminars and conferences to help our employees grow their skills and knowledge base. We have a lot of employees take advantage of this kind of benefit, and the array of learning can be technical or leadership-oriented, so it’s a big breadth. The benefit is enhancing employees’ engagement with the company and increasing their loyalty,” she says.
In the field
Continuing education can take many forms. In Wine Country, it sometimes means hands-on practice in the vineyards or tasting rooms. Education is a prime mission of the Sonoma County Winegrowers, which works with growers and their employees to ensure success in the wine business. In the fiscal year from June 2012 to July 2013, the organization offered more than 16 different programs, 12 of which provided educational or informational content and had 303 growers receiving more than 500 continuing education credit hours from the Department of Pesticide Regulation. In addition, 156 vineyard workers participated in SCW’s employee development program workshops.
Workshops usually take place on Saturday mornings, and most employers pay their workers to attend. Programs are in Spanish as well as English. In December 2013, Alberto Zamora, vineyard manager at Domaine Carneros, led a workshop in practical vineyard pruning practices in Forestville for Hispanic vineyard workers, giving them an opportunity to acquire new knowledge in their native language and thus further their careers. The workshop included an in-vineyard pruning demonstration.
Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) offers education immersion programs to help qualified members of the wine trade understand the region better (it also offers half- and full-day continuing education programs about the wine business to its members and their employees). For members of the wine trade, NVV offers training to help them better understand the Napa Valley wine region; for NVV members and their employees, topics include beverage certification, marketing, social media and other wine industry-related business topics.
“We work with organizations like the Institute of Masters of Wine, the Guild of Sommeliers and also our winery members to identify and invite qualified members of the trade to attend,” says Communications Director Patsy McGaughy, explaining that people are nominated, and most employers give them time off to attend. NVV winery members and their staff sign up at-will for the various educational offerings the organization provides, which typically take place during regular business hours.
Among the programs are Master Napa Valley, which is open to attendees nominated by the Institute of Masters and Guild of Sommeliers certification, and the Napa Valley Wine Educators Academy, a multi-day course for educators who teach consumers and people in the wine trade about Napa Valley. They learn about soils, climate, topography and valley’s history, and several vintners make presentations. “We talk about Napa Valley as a whole,” says McGaughy, explaining that NVV’s goal is to teach people to understand the area. The majority of participants do it on their own because they want to continue their professional wine education, but sometimes their employers pay.
A third program, Symposium for Professional Wine Writers, is an annual program founded by NVV, Meadowood Napa Valley and the Culinary Institute of America that attracts wine authors, editors, critics, columnists, bloggers and other editorial wine content creators. “It’s a career-enrichment opportunity,” says McGaughy.
Although NVV’s trade education programs draw a few local participants, it attracts people from all over the world who want to continue their professional wine education. “In many cases, they go back to teach and train others,” says McGaughy, describing them as ambassadors who return to their businesses and tell the story of Napa Valley.
McGaughy adds that local wineries support continuing education and send their employees to NVV programs designed for local winery staff, the Center for Professional Wine Studies at The Culinary Institute of America, Sonoma State University and WISE Academy in Napa, which offers wine industry education training and certification programs focused on sales and marketing, as well as Napa Valley College or UC Davis so they can study more technical aspects of the vineyard and wine industry.
Total immersion
Treasury Wine Estates in Napa and St. Helena takes yet another approach, giving employees a chance to experience the wine industry outside their own particular areas of expertise. The company offers Viticulture 101 and Winemaking 101 for employees who work in other functions, such as human resources, marketing or information technology, so they can gain a deeper understanding of the business, “We call our employees ‘vintrepreneurs,’” says Joel Fisher, vice president, corporate affairs. “We’re a collection of people with a passion for wine and an entrepreneurial spirit.”
The company’s supply team leads Viticulture 101, which lasts a full year and teaches participants how to grow quality grapes through lessons in the classroom and hands-on vineyard experience. “It goes all the way through the growing season with teams helping to harvest that vintage,” says Fisher. Winemaking 101, also a year-long program, goes through the process of making wine, with attendees learning how to harvest and crush grapes and make and bottle wine. It ends with an internal wine show that gives them a chance to show off the wines they’ve made.
Programs take place during the week, and as long as employees are willing to make the commitment, they’re eligible to take them. “Our ambition at Treasury Wine Estates is to become the world’s most successful and celebrated wine company, and we need passionate and capable people across our company to deliver this,” says Fisher. “Professional development and deepening the understanding of our business is a smart investment for our business and our people,” he adds, explaining that it builds their capabilities and business acumen and is important in helping them understand the industry from end to end.
Going farther afield, TWE, which has its headquarters in Australia, offers Harvest Exchange, an international exchange program. “We’ll send a few people to work the harvest in other countries where we have vineyards. It lets them experience and share best practices and bring these back to their home teams,” he says, noting that because Australia and New Zealand are in the Southern Hemisphere, the growing seasons are reversed.
The company also recently launched a 13-week leadership development program for managers at its bottling plant in Napa, which helps them build leadership and management skills and understand the wine industry. Employees can also attend outside programs, such as those of the Wine and Spirit Education Trust, a British organization noted for its wine certification programs, which has conducted private courses for employees at TWE. “At Treasury Wine Estates, our employees are provided with a variety of rich, on-the-job and formal opportunities to improve,” says Fisher. “After all, that’s what makes us ‘vintrepreneurs.’”
In an ever-changing world, new developments make continued learning essential. NVV’s McGaughy observes that people naturally have a desire to learn more and take advantage of opportunities to expand their knowledge. It follows that businesses with programs to support their employees and that offer them a chance to grow are most likely to retain the best employees and inspire them to aim high. It’s a strategy that benefits everyone—businesses, employers and the public they serve—and a formula for success.
