By Lauren Weber
As emerging technologies change jobs across industries,
companies like Home Depot Inc., defense contractor Lockheed Martin
Corp. and others are racing to offer new skills training for their
employees.
To do so, some are moving beyond tuition-repayment for
undergraduate course work and grad school degrees, such as the
M.B.A., to include shorter-term credentials. But with thousands of
education options to choose from, many companies are struggling to
discern worthwhile programs from those that are a waste of
money.
"Are there courses that are just as good that may be outside
that standard academic institution?" asked Lesley Leiserson, who
manages Home Depot's benefit programs, including tuition
assistance. "We don't have a good answer on that today."
U.S. workers now have access to more than 738,000 secondary and
postsecondary degrees, certificates, badges and other
certifications, according to a 2019 report from Credential Engine,
a nonprofit that aims to build a comprehensive registry of training
options, along with data about their outcomes.
The organization found that half of all credentials come from
educational institutions, including traditional universities and
community colleges. Nearly as many credentials are things like
digital badges and online course certificates from nonacademic
organizations, which have proliferated as providers see a lucrative
and fast-growing market for professional training, fashionably
known as reskilling and upskilling.
More than half of U.S. companies offer tuition-assistance
programs, paying for all or part of employees' graduate or
undergraduate studies, according to the Society for Human Resource
Management. A growing number are paying for nontraditional
training, from coding boot camps to LinkedIn Learning subscriptions
that teach everything from personal branding tips to advanced
cloud-computing skills. There are few standards and little
transparency to help workers and employers navigate this
marketplace, said Scott Cheney, executive director of Credential
Engine.
"What we still don't know is whether we have enough -- or too
many -- credentialing programs for a country of our size or if we
have the right mix of programs to meet employer needs across the
country," wrote Arne Duncan, former U.S. Education Secretary, and
Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, in a foreword to Credential
Engine's report.
For Home Depot, exploring what credentials to pay for can be a
labor-intensive process. The idea for covering a certificate in 3-D
printing first emerged during an internal training session where
employees were asked to envision how new technologies might affect
industries Home Depot serves, like construction. Ms. Leiserson and
a colleague then took an afternoon class at a local design museum
to better grasp what 3-D printing involves. Her team is still
researching what courses the company might be open to
compensating.
"We're trying to get ahead of it versus behind it," she said of
exploring new skill-building options.
At Lockheed Martin, the world's largest defense firm by revenue,
more than half of jobs related to STEM -- science, technology,
engineering and math -- don't require a college degree, so the
company updated its tuition-assistance policy in April 2018 from a
degree-based model to include coverage of short-term
certificates.
"It allows people to gain new skills and build on skills they
already had," said Tammi Lloyd, director of enterprise talent
management and professional development.
To determine what to pay for, Ms. Lloyd and her team compared
Lockheed's offerings with peer companies, examined what
certificates firms in other industries were accepting and asked
engineering and operations leaders to weigh in on what they most
needed. It also consulted with vendor Bright Horizons Family
Solutions Inc., which administers its tuition-assistance
program.
After starting with around 100 nondegree certifications, in
areas such as Linux software language and information security
architecture, Lockheed has since added about 50 more.
Lockheed vetted a number of providers and chose several,
including Coursera, an online learning platform. Employees are
eager to learn, Ms. Lloyd said. Of 200 Coursera licenses Lockheed
purchased as part of a pilot program, 90% were claimed and
activated within three weeks.
Lockheed will give pilot participants six months to complete the
class they choose, then will assess the results with team leaders,
asking if managers saw a change in knowledge, skills and
behavior.
At the moment, that kind of assessment can be time-consuming and
inefficient, repeated at employers around the country, sometimes
for the same certificates and programs. Credential Engine hopes its
registry will simplify the process for employers and individuals.
It is gathering data, working with state labor and education
agencies and governors' offices to input information that already
exists in their systems.
One challenge, according to Credential Engine's Mr. Cheney, is
compiling information such as digital badges, certificates offered
by private companies and other data outside the reach of a state
institution or agency. He is hopeful that inclusion in the registry
will be incentive enough for education providers to voluntarily
input their data.
"There's a rich conversation to be had" about the labor-market
value of credentials," Mr. Cheney said. "But it has to be had on
the basis of better data."
Write to Lauren Weber at lauren.weber@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 07, 2020 05:44 ET (10:44 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024