Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
On-the-job training took on a new meaning recently when Ivy Tech joined forces with R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. to educate Donnelley employees - while they're at work.
Thirteen employees are enrolled in a course to train electricians, said Mike Getz, operations support manager at Donnelley. Two class sessions are available, depending on which shift the employees work. Classes are on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from noon to 4 p.m. and from 4 to 8 p.m.
The program started Jan. 22. It came about because Getz, who was in Europe on company business, noticed that European companies, when educating employees, would have the employees go to class for half a day and work half a day. When he came back to Donnelley, he wanted to apply that practice here.
At the same time, Getz said, "we had several of our electricians in our plant, through promotions, move on." Advertising for replacements didn't work, he said, "so we ended up having to look to our workforce and give them an apprenticeship to become an electrician."
In the past, he said, an apprentice was partnered with a journeyman, but now there are too many apprentices and not enough journeymen.
To solve that problem, Neal Meloy, operations support supervisor at Donnelley, went to Joe O'Brien, Ivy Tech's business and industry training manager for Kosciusko and Marshall counties. O'Brien put together a program tailored to Donnelley's needs.
Not only will the employees who take the class receive technical training, Getz said, but eventually he hopes to see them earn their associate's degrees.
"Our goal is, when we're done, they will end up being close to getting an associate's degree - everything but the general (education) classes. And if we have enough interest in an associate's degree, we'll even have those classes in the plant," Getz said. "We're trying to make it our responsibility to get them this training instead of their responsibility."
The employees who are taking the classes are enthusiastic about the education and the convenience, he said. The classes don't cut into their personal time with their families, "plus they get paid while they're here," he said.
"It's hard for people out there to take time out for classes," O'Brien said. With this program, "everybody wins. Employers get a well-trained workforce and lots of employees love it because they don't have to go other places."
Getz said Donnelley doesn't require anything in return from the employees who take the courses. "If we show them that we have a commitment to them, then hopefully they will be loyal to us," he said.
So far the classes have been going well, he said, with the employees pretty evenly divided between afternoon and evening classes.
When the current course ends on March 30, the student/employees will have 120 hours toward their electrician certification, O'Brien said.
He said this kind of on-site training is becoming popular: Dalton Foundries just began the first round of courses for their employees, and more companies are expected to follow.
"We need enough people to make a course go - we try to find at least eight people," O'Brien said. He also considers having two or more companies combine resources if individual businesses don't have enough employees for a class.
Companies with an interest in programs like Donnelley's can contact O'Brien at Ivy Tech, Warsaw, at 267-5428.
