Should your employer pay for some or all of your training and certification?

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begeland

If you're going for PM certification - any certification - should your employer pay for it? Or some of it? What are your experiences...is your employer paying...did they pay for that certification you obtained last year? And how much...the training, the test? And did any certification come with a promise of a salary increase or other incentive?

Let's discuss....
Brad
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kwalford
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Hi Brad,

My employer paid for my projects course but it was on the premise that I need to pay back the cost of the course if I left the company within a year. The cost of the course was worked out over the year pro rata & if I left the company within the year then I would have to pay the remainder back.

Many thanks,
Kit
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dhaughey
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Hi Brad,

I've been lucky that my employers have always paid for my training courses and certifications. They are investing in me to benefit the business and for me to pass those skills on to others.

Many UK employers use the promise of training and development as a way of attracting the best talent. If I think about large multinational companies, I would expect fully funded training and development as part of my package.

Training any individual comes with a risk. They may leave as soon as you've trained them, but in my experience most people become loyal to a company that treats them well. There's a tendency to look at the negative side of training people, so if you're worried you can tie them in to the business for a period with a clause in their contract.

If you don't invest in your people, then you're not investing in the future of your business.

Duncan
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kwalford
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Like Duncan said, the business will likely want to see some commitment from the person if they are going to splash out the money on training, and this was the case with myself.
begeland

I fully agree with the commitment requirement from the resource. But I do personally think that the company should be ready to pay for all related training courses, the membership fees required, and the testing costs. It's just good business and good company-employee relationship building.

I actually had one company that hired me write it into my hiring agreement that my salary would be bumped by $10k after achieving PMP certification. Unfortunately the company went under before that could ever be realized...but it was a fun ride.

And H. Ross Perot's first big tech organization - EDS - thought they're training/orientation was so state of the art that if you left the company in the first year of hiring (if I remember correctly), you had to pay them back for it. Ouch!
Brad
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I have asked my current employer as to whether they could put me through PRINCE2 training. Sadly, as it is not my primary role there, and there is little scope for me moving into another department to utilise PM skills, they have declined.

Decisions like this can only act as extra motivation to invest in myself and make it happen.

It's all down to you at the end of the day.
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