A collaborative training program supplemented by the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP) has brought needed training to one of the region’s largest telecommunications companies that officials credit with reducing turnover, improving customer service, and building a more committed workforce.

Thanks to the collaboration, the training was brought to Floyd County-based Gearheart Communications at little or no cost to the company, which delivers radio, cable television, telephone, home security, and Internet service throughout eastern Kentucky.

All 175 Gearheart employees ultimately participated in some portion of the training, which was taught by instructors with Big Sandy Community and Technical College (Big Sandy CTC).

A partnership between the college, the company, EKCEP, the JobSight network of workforce centers, and Big Sandy Area Community Action Program made the training program possible, according to Crawford Blakeman, EKCEP Business Solutions manager.

The training met specific needs identified by the company in areas such as first aid/CPR, customer service, pole climbing, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) construction and office safety, Microsoft Excel advanced operation, “A+” computer certification, and interoffice conduct, Blakeman said.

Amanda Baker, human resources manager for Gearhart Communications, said the collaboration has helped the company employ a more competent and committed workforce by offering training employees likely could not have accessed on their own.

For example, Baker said she had difficulty finding employees with an A+ Certification, a demonstration of competence as a computer technician. Training for that certification typically costs about $600 per person.

The training collaboration covered those costs, allowing employees to earn an impressive new qualification to add to their resumes. Providing such benefits helps employees become more committed and more likely to stick with the company longer, Baker said.

“When you have increased commitment to the company, you have decreased turnover,” she said.

Blakeman said EKCEP often supports training where employees develop transferable skills and earn “portable” certifications that can improve their chances at jobs even if they leave their current employer.

Blakeman said EKCEP helped Gearheart Communications in these and various other training efforts by contributing some of its funds designated for training incumbent workers. The funds were combined with a grant from the Kentucky Workforce Investment Network System (WINS), a training incentive program administered by the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS), of which Big Sandy CTC is a part.

The combined funding covered the cost of bringing the training program to Gearheart Communications. The company’s only cost was the salaries of trainees during the training period.

Blakeman said the training collaboration was initiated in July 2006 by Joyce Wilcox, Business Services coordinator for the Big Sandy Area Community Action Program. Wilcox said she simply made a call to Baker asking how the workforce system could help meet Gearheart’s training needs.

“We let a company tell us what it needs, and we try to solve those problems accordingly,” Wilcox said.

Blakeman said after Gearhart’s range of training needs was established, a second meeting was held between himself, Baker, Wilcox, David Pelphrey—Big Sandy CTC’s Dean of Community/Economic and Workforce Development—and Harold Burton, a workforce development liaison.

During that meeting, it became clear that Big Sandy CTC had a vast toolbox of resources that could meet all the training needs Baker mentioned, Blakeman said.

“It even included pole climbing,” he said, adding about 35 employees took part in that safety training at a “pole climbing farm” owned by the college near the Gearheart headquarters.
    
The training program officially began in March 2007, and wrapped up in the last week of June 2008.

Baker said the company could not have offered so much simultaneous training without the help of the collaboration. It would have been too difficult and expensive for her to arrange for the training on her own, she said.

Pleased by the success of the training program, Baker said she now frequently encourages other business people at Society of Human Resource Managers (SHRM) meetings she attends to take advantage of the available services.

“Listen up! This is a win-win situation and not something to overlook,” Baker said of the training collaboration.

Wilcox said that through the arrangement, the JobSight network has developed the type of lasting, mutually beneficial partnership that is the goal of such Business Services initiatives.

“We develop a trust through the experience the employer has with us,” she said. “It really has turned into a great partnership.”

For more information on Business Services initiatives free to employers in the Big Sandy area, call Business Services Coordinator Joyce Wilcox at 606-886-2948.

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Big Sandy Area Community Action Program is a key partner in the JobSight network of workforce centers administered by EKCEP in 23 eastern Kentucky counties. At JobSight locations, job seekers and employers can access more than a dozen government workforce programs in a single location. JobSight also links employers with the right employees through EKCEP’s Business Services activities.