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Employer-Based Training Programs Can Help Your Employees

May 1, 2018

Employer-based training programs are a great way to provide skill upgrades to both current employees and new hires for businesses in Illinois. Providing skill upgrades are important to averting layoffs, staying current in your industry, and giving new employees the skills they need.

Types of Programs

There are four main types of employer-based training programs. Read below to learn how each program works, who you can hire, qualifications, and how to apply. For an overview, download the Employer-Based Training flyer. If you'd like to read more about each program type, see the corresponding flyers in the Documents section of this article.

The following training programs are all different. You can learn about which one might be a good fit before you reach out to learn if your company qualifies.

On-the-Job Training (OJT)

OJT is a "hire-first" program. In it, a public or private employer makes an agreement with their local Illinois workNet Center to hire, train, and retain a person after they successfully complete the program.

If you choose this option, the employee will be trained in-house. The staff at your local workforce center will design a training plan for you, or you may use your own plan. You may also be reimbursed up to 75% of the employee's wages while they are in training. If you have the resources available, this option can be a convenient way to train new employees the way you want.

Class-Sized Training

This type is aimed for dislocated workers who need to upgrade their skills to find new jobs. The person takes classes in a non-traditional setting. These classes are usually short-term, which allows workers to upgrade their skills and to get back into the workforce quickly.

This type can be combined with other learning methods to ensure that the trainee's skills and curriculum are fully developed. A few programs with this type of training could be combined with:

  • On-the-Job Training.
  • Occupational Knowledge/Contextualized Learning.
  • Basic Skills/Bridge Programs.

Incumbent Worker Training (IWT)

Your employees' skills need to be current for you to stay competitive. Technological and economic change happens quickly and can displace workers if they don't update their skills. If you have an employee who needs to update or expand their skill set to stay on the job, this type of training is for you.

You may have to qualify as "at risk" to enter an IWT program. Some "at risk" indicators include:1

  • Declining sales.
  • Problems caused by industry or market trends.
  • Management or ownership changes.
  • Workers without in-demand skills.

IWT helps you develop and implement training programs for these employees. Depending on your company's size up to 90% of training costs can be reimbursed through the program.

Customized Training

Sometimes, you may have a special case that the above options don't fully cover. Or, you might want a training program more tailored to your company needs. This is where customized training comes into play. For example, if you are introducing new technologies, productions, or service procedures, you might need customized training.

You can setup a custom training plan for both new hires and incumbent workers. Like OJT, you will make a commitment to employ – or continue to employ – the person after they complete the program. In either case, you pay no less than 50% of training costs.

Finding a Program

Once you've chosen a training program type, you can start setting things up. First, use the Service Finder to find an Illinois workNet Partner location that serves businesses. Once you do this, contact the location to move forward with the process.

You'll also need to locate a training provider. You can work with your Illinois workNet Center to help or if you have networking with a training provider near you, that may be a great place to start.

For more information on these types of programs, check out Illinois workNet's Employer-Based Training Programs page.

 

Sources

1http://www.illinoisworknet.com/Training/Pages/WIOATrainingProgramSearch.aspx

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