BENTON HARBOR, Mich., Sept 07, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Although not as famous as the latest summer tours of Bon Jovi or Lady Gaga, Whirlpool Corporation will soon be packing up and hitting the road as well. The seven-week initiative, "Whirlpool Corporation on Tour" will train sales associates in 70 cities across the United States on the latest new product innovations and key selling points of Whirlpool Corporation's appliances.

"Whirlpool Corporation on Tour makes learning about the company's products easy and entertaining," said Liz Okon, Sales Training Manager at Whirlpool Corporation. "By bringing the training tools and field experts to sales associates across the nation, we are providing an unmatched, hands-on learning experience. A well-educated sales team offers customers better in-store experiences, and gives companies more opportunities to grow their business."

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Tags: sales training, training, business news, learning initiatives, innovation

Categories: News | T+D

If the workplace review site Glassdoor is to companies what Yelp is to restaurants, then Hewlett-Packard Co. employees gave former chief executive Mark Hurd only two stars, but remain hopeful of a four- or five-star successor.

In the past, those kinds of inside insights into employee morale at any corporation could be locked away behind closed doors. But in the open world of the Web, sites like Glassdoor have moved those sentiments into the open market, giving voice to rank-and-file workers in a way that no company suggestion box ever could.

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Tags: Glassdoor, business news

Categories: News

(From PRWEB) -- When business finally picks up, the need American employers will have for qualified managers and supervisors will increase virtually overnight. Businesses that cannot manage a newly enlarged workforce will forfeit opportunities for quick growth when the inevitable recovery comes. Compounding employers’ problems, layoffs during recent years and increased retirements in future years have created a constricted pipeline for promotable managers. But, an on-line training firm says its restructuring of the management and supervisory training process represents one solution to this impending problem.

ej4.com, a creator of internet-based, virtual campus training sites using graphic-intensive short video training segments says employers can prepare current employees for impending challenges without sacrificing productivity in today’s still constricted economy.

Their statistics indicate that employees are doing more job training off-the-job and off-hours resulting in higher current productivity numbers. Supervisors in particular, are gaining job skills for both today and tomorrow before or after work, at home and on weekends, according to ej4, the streaming-video training provider, “Of the over 2,200,000 classes we have delivered via our many virtual campuses, over 220,000 of those classes have been logged into on either Saturday or Sunday,” said Paul Russell, ej4 partner. “If you add in almost a half-million more coursework segments completed during evening hours, the off-the-clock learning number grows to well over 700,000 training courses, almost a third of our output.”

On-the-job productivity soars when managers take training on their own time. Employers cannot afford to take employees away from customers and other job duties because they are lean with no “relief” workers available to fulfill the duties of others who have “gone to training.” Earning job certification through training taken on weekends, current and prospective supervisors and managers at companies as far flung as beverage manufacturing and distribution, banking and agricultural products sales complete their job curriculum more often from home and less often during traditional work hours. The trick, ej4 says, is to get that done in a way that does not create resentment among learners. “You do that with compelling content coupled with fun,” Russell said.

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Tags: off-the-job training, virtual training, leadership development

Categories: News

(From The New York Times) -- Before two luxury hotels, the Andaz 5th Avenue in Manhattan and the Elysian Hotel in Chicago, opened their doors in recent months, both added something extra to their usual employee training practices: they hired improvisational comedy experts.

The Benjamin, an upscale business travel hotel also in New York, took a similar tack to help its staff better serve guests, offering them a series of life-coaching sessions this summer.

Other hotel brands — including Hilton Garden Inn, Aloft, Homewood Suites and SpringHill Suites — are using devices like iPods and the Sony PlayStation Portable to help with staff training.

The courses, which are offered in addition to more traditional classroom and online training, are part of an effort by hotels to distinguish their brand, said Bjorn Hanson, divisional dean of the Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management at New York University.

“There are 228 hotel brands in the United States, and the two ways to be distinctive are design and service,” he said. “Service can be a great differentiator.” Hotels, he added, “are in a period of experimentation. Some brands are employing skills unrelated to the lodging industry to transform service styles and delivery.”

The use of devices like iPods and the PlayStation Portable in training has a couple of advantages, hotel executives say. The devices appeal to younger employees, who, in many cases, already use them at home. The content is also relatively inexpensive to create.

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Tags: training, improv, culture, brand

Categories: News

LANCASTER -- The success of a restaurant is largely tied to food quality and customer support, but the prosperity of hundreds of restaurants can be tied to one Lancaster resident.

John Hammond, director of training for Columbus-based Charley's Grilled Subs, was selected as just the sixth member of the company's Hall of Fame.

Hammond trains franchisees and general managers of Charley's on all areas of the business, including the restaurant industry, human resources and proper food safety measure. Despite the accolades, Hammond insists the success or failure of any franchise is directly related to the owner.

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Tags: training, corporate training

Categories: News

(From HearaldTribune.com) In the '60s and '70s, people talked about urban renewal. Older cities, especially industrial centers, were beginning to show their age and sparkling new suburbs with fancy shopping malls were attracting people and dollars. Planners talked about reinventing the American city.

But none of that effort or talk or action can compare with what is happening in New Orleans today. In many ways, it is a new place emerging like a phoenix from the disaster that struck five years ago this week. Few have to be reminded that it was Hurricane Katrina that blew through the city on its way to destruction along the northern Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005. When dawn broke on Aug. 30, water flowed through breaks in the levees and flood walls, covering more than 80 percent of New Orleans.

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Tags: talent, diversity, new orleans, louisiana

Categories: News

(From StrategyOne.net) September 3, 2010 (New York, NY) — Most American workers are satisfied with their jobs, but nearly two in three have strong doubts about being able to eventually stop working and retire, according to a recent StrategyOne public opinion survey of 1,043 Americans, including 613 who work either full-or part-time.

The vast majority of 613 employed Americans who were surveyed describe themselves as satisfied with their jobs (82%) and report they get satisfaction from their work (80%).  About three out of four (72%) also said they enjoy where they work and look forward to coming to work every day.

Equally high percentages of workers said they feel respected by their bosses (83%) and feel their boss respects their work (82%). Co-workers also got high marks, with three out of four Americans (74%) saying their colleagues are among the best things about where they work.

But this rosy picture of the workplace belies underlying concerns, many related to the unsettled economy.

Nearly 2 in 3 (64%) believe that realistically they won’t ever be able to stop working and retire, and the uncertainty of the long-term picture may help explain the divide among American workers over whether they believe they labor at a job (52%) or in a long-term career (48%).

The current economic downturn has produced a situation where almost half (46%) of workers have had their wages or salaries reduced over the past couple of years, and a similar segment are concerned about losing their jobs (44%) or having their hours cut back (48%).

About four in 10 workers (37%) describe themselves as underemployed and say they are not working as many hours as they would like because there is not enough work available at their current jobs.  Meanwhile, a similar percentage of workers (40%) say that their bosses expect them to work extra hours without raises or additional compensation.

"While employed Americans on the whole enjoy their work and get satisfaction from it, there is a real sense that the retirement ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ may not be there for them," said Bradley Honan, senior vice president of StrategyOne.

The StrategyOne survey also found that a surprising number of workers are disconnected from the mission of their company.  One-third of American workers (35%) report not caring much about their company and say they are mainly there to get a paycheck, and 38% report not knowing what the main mission of their organization is, other than making money.  More than half (56%) say they would be interested in leaving their job if they could get the same compensation elsewhere.

"With extensive market competition in every industry, it’s absolutely imperative that companies engage their entire workforce in their mission to achieve their business goals and objectives,” said Honan.  “Employees must see their jobs as more than just collecting a paycheck, and it’s up to their employers to make sure that’s the case."

The StrategyOne Labor Day American Worker survey also provides several other insights into Americans and their work:

Work Vs: Life

•    The vast majority of the workforce (78%) describes themselves as working to live — compared to 22% who say work is their top priority in life – the so called ‘workaholics’ in our society.

Taking a day off:
•    One-quarter of workers (26%) say they fear being fired if they take a day off, although nearly half strongly disagree with that suggestion.

Web surfing at work:
•    While they may not be taking days off, many American workers admit to surfing the Web while at work: 40% for at least one hour a day and 28% for at least two hours a day. Social media is a big draw, with 29% saying they spend at least one hour of their day using such sites and checking on what other people are doing.

Communications with their boss:
•    Almost 82% of workers say they communicate well with their bosses, but companies have some work to do.  Almost half (44%) say their companies put corporate “values” on the wall that are mostly meaningless to them.

Company meetings:
•    Close to half (49%) agree with the following statement: “Most meetings that I go to at the company where I work are a waste of time.”

For more visit www.strategyone.net

Tags: surveys, research, retirement, talent management

Categories: News

(From The Wall Street Journal) -- Mechanics going through Boeing Co.'s 25-day training course for its coming 787 Dreamliner learn to fix all kinds of problems, from broken lights in the cabin to major glitches with its flight controls. One thing they won't soon do: touch one of the planes.

Using both laptop and desktop computers inside a classroom festooned with huge wall-mounted diagrams, airline mechanics will train on a system that displays an interactive 787 cockpit, as well as a 3-D exterior of the plane. Using a mouse, the mechanics can "walk" around the jet, open virtual maintenance access panels and go inside the plane to repair and replace parts.

Like most new jetliners, the Dreamliner is an electronic tour de force, with computer networking cards as likely to need troubleshooting as mechanical parts. Boeing has made the training for the much-delayed jet as virtual as its first deliveries, now scheduled for sometime in the first quarter of 2011.

At the end of the course, the mechanics get all training materials on a tiny memory stick. Once they are in the field staring up at an actual Dreamliner, they will also use laptop PCs to diagnose and solve real problems with the planes, Boeing says.

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Tags: virtual training, Boeing, simulations

Categories: News

(From Marketwire) -- Taleo Corporation, the leading provider of on-demand talent management solutions, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire strategic partner Learn.com, Inc. for approximately $125 million in cash.

With the acquisition, Taleo will extend its Talent Management suite, becoming the only public vendor to offer best-in-class solutions across the four critical components of a talent-optimized organization: recruiting management to source, assess and acquire talent; performance management to establish goals and create career and succession plans; compensation management to establish a true "pay-for-performance" process between corporate objectives and individuals' contributions; and now learning management to support social and formal development.

Learn.com is a leading next generation provider of SaaS learning management solutions, a market estimated to be $1 billion in 2011 according to Bersin & Associates. Its software enables businesses to more seamlessly develop, deliver and manage education and training to help employees, customers and partners reach their full potential. Learn.com's social learning and web conferencing features also enable companies to build collaborative learning and knowledge sharing solutions, which are among the fastest growing applications in employee development today.

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Tags: talent management, Learn.com, Taleo Corporation, acquisition

Categories: News

(From PRNewswire) -- GettingHired.com, the nation's largest disability employment portal, announced the signing of an exclusive agreement with HirePotential, Inc. to provide specialized training to major employers related to disability employment readiness. The series of courses, including specialized training on The Accommodation Process, Disability Etiquette Training, OFCCP Compliance, Disability Awareness Training for Recruiters and Hiring Managers as well as Tax Credit Utilization, will allow employers to be better prepared to take full advantage of hiring talented people with disabilities.  

GettingHired, LLC Chief Executive Officer Thomas Capato stated, "GettingHired.com's National Consortium of the USA's largest employers, disability service providers, advocacy and veterans groups, universities and colleges, government agencies and business alliances act as a hub to provide and coordinate workforce preparation, disability employment education, career advice, university outreach, peer mentoring and job postings in a positive, fully 508 compliant, pro-disability, socially networked environment. As part of our full-service commitment to our members, these courses will provide critical education in areas that many employers find complex." He went on to say, "We believe employer education is the key to lowering employment barriers to people with disabilities and with National Disability Employment Awareness Month coming up in October, the timing of this additional service offering could not be better!"

HirePotential, Inc.'s Chief Executive Officer Sheridan Walker stated, "GettingHired.com and HirePotential share the mission of increasing employment opportunities for talented people with disabilities. This partnership will allow us to bring our subject matter expertise in a variety of areas to GettingHired.com's current and future employer customers. The knowledge and implementation experience we bring to the table will help employers increase their comfort level to improve disability hiring outreach."

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Tags: hiring, accessibility, disability employment, recruitment, training

Categories: News