Specialized Training and Employee Retention

Hi everyone!

We have an all new maintenance staff with various levels of knowledge. We are wanting to offer them the option to take classes at the companies expense, but also don't want to expend the money training them to have them take those certifications and hit the road.

Do any of you pay for employee training/certification, and if so what kind of program do you have in place to prevent them from leaving?

Thanks in advance!

Tiffani

Tiffani,
I think this is a common concern for people, but I think ultimately we must realize that people are going to leave at some point, and restricting training to reduce employment costs ends up shooting a community in the foot. I think you would be hard pressed to find a well-run company (even outside of our industry) that tries to inhibit training for fear of the employee leaving. In fact, I think many employees feel like their company doesn't support them if they don't support their career growth, and that is what may drive them away, as they feel stagnant.

That said, I am clearly biased, as we offer a " Mastering Maintenance " webinar training series. So take my input with a grain of salt!

When we pay for certifications or licenses with the NAA, IREM or other places we require that they sign an agreement that if they leave early (say in less than 1 year) that they are required to pay back a prorated portion of the cost of the education. This gives them an incentive to not run as soon as the certification is complete for at least 1 year.

Tiffani,
We also pay for classes and designations. Investing in our team members usually pays off in increased employee loyalty and tenure!
That said, we have a policy for designations that if they leave in fewer than 6 months there is a level of reimbursement, and 6 months to a year it's graduated to a lower amount. It is in their employee handbook and reviewed when hired, but we don't make them sign something additional when they take the class.
Thankfully we haven't collected on it! And we have paid for a lot of designations.

If it is prop mgt related, we will pay up to $400 once they provide proof of passing/certification

I would not be concerned about them leaving, you don't want that to prevent you from trng them, it could end up being the reason they leave, it's a major cause of employee dissatisfaction
they will appreciate formal/professional/any kind of trng