RosieA said:
Do any of you work for companies that require a certain number of hours of training per employee per year?
Let me know and tell me what size company you work for. Mine has slightly over 500 in two locations. Support for training is definitely cyclical, there in good times, not there in bad.
If your company does specify training hours, how would you describe the company culture?
Company size = approximately 60,000+ worldwide
Annual training requirements vary by the type of work. There are two major types of work -- public contact, and the rest of it. I know little of the public contact side; that is who you deal with when you are traveling -- reservations and airport customer service.
I see mostly the "invisible" mass of people and work, those who fly and maintain aircraft and their systems. The principal emphasis of most of their training is on safety, then emergency response, safety, proficiency in job skills, and finally safety. Training is definitely NOT cyclical, because the safety of our customers (YOU!) depends on it.
- Flight crews - periodic refresher training, as well as qualification training for new aircraft types, is mandated by the regulatory agency. (FAA)
- Mechanics and technicians - the regulatory agency mandates training required to qualify for an appropriate professional license. The company also provides ongoing safety and skills oriented training, and training required to become proficient on new systems or equipment. The specific training is determined by where a person works (engine mechanics get different training than electronics technicians) and is required based on courses -- I do not know of any requirement based on hours.
- Regulatory and Legal Requirements - there is regular recurrent training for affected people based on these requirements. Interested agencies include EPA, OSHA, EEOC, FAA, DOD, equivalent state and local agencies, and more. Courses are heavy on safety: gerneral workplace safety, fall protection, use of personal protective equipment, fire prevention and suppression, chemical hazards, FOD prevention, and a lot more that affects the safety of our customers and employees. There is also recurrent training in other matters: safety, environmental protection, REDACTED harassment prevention, certain types of aircraft operations, security, details of the business, quality, technical subjects and so on.
Again, there is not (other than for flight crews) any requirement based on hours
that I am aware of. The courses needed for your job function are identified, and you take them.
Now, let's shift gears a bit to the department I work in -- the 10-person ISO 9001:2000-registered electronic calibration lab that is part of the big (not-registered) company. The lab supervisor requires, in addition to whatever else is required by the company, that each person log an average of one hour per week in professional training. The subject matter can be anything related to professional expertise or to quality. He does not overtly check up on the staff, but it does come up in evaluations and there are other ways -- we have some computer-based courses that he can check the progress on, he can check Internet use logs, and there is observation while walking around. Considering that we work in a field where the science advances so fast you can fall a year behind while eating lunch one day
this hour per week is seen as very reasonable, and a number of the people actually exceed it. (As for me, some of my time in The Cove counts toward that hour per week.)
What does get cut in hard times is expenses for non-mandatory off-site training or similar activities. For example, if I want to go to a conference (Measurement Science Conference, ASQ Anuual Quality Congress, NCSL Workshops and Conference, etc.) the whole expense comes out of my personal pocket. That means I get very choosy, and usually get to only one per year.
The main aspect of company culture is safety. The safety of the customers is paramount. The aircraft must be safe to operate, and the crews must oeperate in a safe manner. We may leave or arrive late, but the reason is almost always safety-related. You may hit the 10 ppm jackpot and have your bag take a different trip than you did, but you (and your bag) got there safely. After all, we and our families fly as well!
