Company Paid Training? 46
screenbert asks: "My employer has just dropped a bombshell on me. He's offered $50,000 in training over the next year to each person in our group. Yes per person. Normally I wouldn't think twice about it, but he's having legal draw up contracts that will require us to pay for the training if we leave. I'm not really happy with my current employer due to changes company-wide.
I've worked for companies in the past that had programs like this, but never with that kind of money, usually 5-10K. Should I take the training and stick it out for the 3 years, or just put it off?" That's a lot of money to drop in training, but given that it's always wise to keep up your skill set, might this be worth it.
Watch out (Score:3, Insightful)
Although I doubt this kind of situation would happen often, it is something to keep in mind when taking training with a condition like the one mentioned. $50,000 seems a little excessive to me.
See old discussions, and tread carefully (Score:4, Insightful)
Some of the details covered in the previous discussions apply here in spades due to the amount and duration in question: The reimbursement MUST be only required in cases of voluntary separation, and MUST be pro-rated down over time (i.e. quit after 1 year and owe 2/3, after 2 years and owe 1/3).
They really want to give you $50K? Does that INCLUDE the cost of paying your salary while you are in class? Otherwise I can't see what they expect you to take... even if a class costs $5K/week, is your employer really going to give you 10 weeks of training? Or is the amount a 3-year total, or intended for grad school, or...?
In short, this sounds like a GREAT opportunity, but what will be expected of you as a result? What are the company-wide changes that make you question staying on? Is your employer specifying the classes? Be careful with this... and most especially be very careful with the conditions requiring reimbursement. You'd really hate to be stuck paying the company back a huge chunk of cash if they did a RIF, or re-assigned you as a janitor to force you to quit, etc.
Life is too short to be puting up with shitty jobs (Score:5, Insightful)
If you dislike your job, it is my strong opinion that you should not stay for anything. It all depends on how much you dislike your job of course. But hey man, happiness is a hell of a lot more important that money.
Find a cool job that you don't detest going to every day. Every moment that slips by you can never get back. Enjoy it while you can.
Be very, very careful. (Score:5, Insightful)
My opinion is to be very, very careful about this.
You can certainly spend $50,000 on training. You may not be able to get $50,000 in value.
The only people who are successful in computing, I have found, are people who teach themselves. The field is too fast-moving to have a good class in every subject. On the contrary, I have never seen a class that was excellent. Everyone has his or her own special needs. It is unlikely those needs can be met in a group.
People in the field of computing need the skills to pick up a book of 1,000 pages and extract useful information in less than a day. Developing those skills is of fundamental importance to being successful in our field. You can only develop the skills needed to teach yourself by teaching yourself.
Also, consider the business tactics here. Why would your company want this arrangement? It is easy to guess. They don't care about the training. They want to lock you in to your present salary for a very small amount of money. No doubt your employer has seen the cost of acquiring and keeping an employee with computer skills, and no doubt that cost is greater than $16,666.67 per year ($50,000 / 3 years).
It is easy to guess that you will find yourself not getting raises when you should. It is easy to guess that the value of lost raises might be more than the actual value of the agreement.
You say, "I'm not really happy with my current employer...". Take this seriously. It may be your brain saying that you don't like something that it, at present, quite well hidden, such as, for example, that your current employer is sneaky.
Maybe you won't be able to spend $50,000 in one year. However, you will still be locked into the 3 years of the agreement, won't you? Maybe the company knows you can't spend $50,000, and would find some reason not to let you, if you tried. Remember, the arrangement requires you to do useful work in that year, also. They can reduce the amount you spend easily, by merely assigning you to a rush job.
In reality, this arrangement may just reflect a desire to lock the average employee in your group into 3 years of unsatisfactory employment for much less than $50,000.
The trick here is that the employer is guessing that the average employee in your group will not have the cash in the bank to allow himself or herself to change employers. Remember, anyone who tries to trick you is a crook. It doesn't matter if that person is successful.
Re:Life is too short to be puting up with shitty j (Score:2, Insightful)
Make sure of one thing... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Life is too short to be puting up with shitty j (Score:2, Insightful)
What if you get fired, laid off or don't want it? (Score:2, Insightful)
What if you get fired? Do you have to pay back? Probably.
What if you get laid off? Do you have to pay back?
What if you don't want training? Can they fire you for not being a team player? After $50K is a lot to commit to, if you aren't going to be around long enough. This could be their way of getting rid of you.
I wonder if they could force you to take $100K worth of training and get a certain gpa, and if you get less, then fire you and get their money back.
For what it's worth, I think that it's good that they hold workers to a certain amount of accountability, with regard to training. After all, hiring a new worker is expensive and risky. Getting the new employee to take up *some* [not a lot] risk would make the work place more competitive.
Who picks the trainer? (Score:2, Insightful)
1. You should get to pick the training and the method. This makes sure that you don't have to take classes from the mangers cousin.
2. You should also make sure that you could spend some of the 50K on computers/books/network equipment to use in experimentation / learning / self-training (at your home/work/whatever). And you should own outright any equipment you buy with the funds.
3. Make sure that you can spend that money on travel to get to the training. It's great that they provide 50k for training but if all the classes you want are on the other coast you could end up spending 25k just to get your training. Also there should be not limit on the cost of hotel, otherwise you may end up still forking out a lot of your money to get a decent hotel.
4. The debt should be pro rated on a daily/monthly basis. (i.e. after 1 year you only owe 2/3 of the amount you spent)
5. This should clearly not be a loan to you, it should be a training budget. It should be considered sort of like an expense account, but for training.
6. It should be clearly stated that there will be no interest, adjustment for inflation, or other form of upward movement in the total amount that you owe them.
7. If they fire you / lay you off / downsize you, you owe them nothing (and it should be explicitly stated that the training package should not, in any way influence your severance package).
8. If they cut your salary, you own them nothing.
9. If they require you to move to a new office / location to remain employed, you owe them nothing.
10. If they require you to change positions (go from programmer to manager, or programmer to janitor), you owe them nothing. Note the only problem here is if you want to get promoted.
11. If they cause a significant change in your job description (i.e. you go from working 40 hours per week to working 60 hours per week, or if you suddenly become the only Sys Admin who's main tasks are scrubbing toilets, emptying trash cans, and moping floors), you owe them nothing.
12. If they get acquired by another company, you owe them nothing.
13. If they go bankrupt, you owe them nothing (and they forgive your dept).
14. If your union causes you to go on strike it should not affect your training or payment schedule (if you strike for 25 days then 25 days get added to the end date of the training plan).
15. If you separate from the company due to injury (regardless of if it was work related or not), you owe them nothing.