A recent Gallup poll found that 87 percent of millennials report “professional or career growth and development opportunities” as important to them in a job. 69 percent of non-millennials assigned training the same importance.
The take-aways: a quality workplace training strategy can perform double-duty as workforce improvement and retention tactic. And, as your workforce skews younger, on-the-job training will become an expected part of the employment package.
What’s a business that is focused on retention to do? Enter the Custom Fit program, a subsidy from the Utah Legislature that helps for-profit companies train employees in the latest skills to remain competitive in Utah’s booming corporate landscape.
“For-profit businesses can realize tremendous value by leveraging Custom Fit at Salt Lake Community College,” Chuck Parker, director of workforce training at SLCC Workforce & Economic Development, said. “We have relationships with best-in-class training providers and we broker the training—from planning to delivery—to help fill skill gaps, further career development and ultimately help retain employees.”\
(Chuck Parker, director of workforce training at SLCC workforce & Economic Development)
Parker also noted that using a workforce solution, like SLCC’s, rather than creating and operating an in-house training office, can benefit a company’s bottom line and reserve internal resources for other business needs.
“The talent war is real, and for-profit businesses of any size and background can use SLCC’s Custom Fit program to stretch their training dollars and provide that value that many employees—notably millennials—seek in their workplaces today,” he said.
The SLCC Custom Fit program is open to for-profit businesses operating in Salt Lake County; to discuss how your business can utilize Custom Fit at SLCC, contact chuck.parker@slcc.edu or call 801-957-5270.
Side bar – you can catch our appearance on SLC DED’s weekly ABC 4 morning segment here in case you missed it the other week: http://bit.ly/2xdIkdk
*Blog post contributed by Karah Altman, SLCC Workforce
Salt Lake City Department of Economic Development 