Employers Association featured in PBNJanuary 28, 2008
R.I Association sees market in leadership training By Natalie Myers PBN Staff Writer
During the past year The Employers Association Inc. in Lincoln has seen a sharp increase in requests from employers for professional-development training in leadership and team building.
“It’s a small percentage now,” said Paul Martineau, president of the 110-year-old company. “But we think in the next two years it’s going to be the fastest growing aspect of our business.”
Historically, The Employers Association has focused on providing information, advice and services to human-resource professionals from its 162 member companies, most of which are based in Rhode Island. Member companies pay a fee to use the association as a resource for fielding human-resource questions and to acquire the latest news on labor laws and regulations.
If a member company needs a specific service, such as basic management training or help with revamping an employee handbook, for example, The Employers Association works on a contractual basis.
Training comprises about 10 percent of the service end of business, Martineau said, but he thinks it could be as much as 25 percent in the next two years.
One thing driving the demand is that human-resource professionals for several years have been having difficulty replacing key people, he said. And more recently as the economy in Rhode Island slows, “that has heightened awareness to motivate and keep the good people they have.”
Martineau said he thinks The Employers Association has a unique position in the market for offering training in leadership and team building because it already has established relationships with several key employers in the state.
Some member companies include: Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, Coastway Credit Union, Collette Vacations, CVS Caremark Corp., Hexagon Metrology Inc., Kenney Manufacturing Inc., Taco Inc. and Toray Plastics America Inc.
“We think there’s a huge unmet need in the marketplace,” Martineau said. “And because of our relationship with employers and others we’ve provided services to, we can leverage our relationship of reliance and responsibility to get a portion of the market.”
Leadership training will involve providing member companies’ employees with the skills to deal more effectively with the goals of a company, whether it is product development or customer retention, he said.
The training also will help workers “take a more self-confident and broader view of where the company can go and how the systems of the company can be improved,” Martineau added.
For Navigant Credit Union, for example, the company is developing training specifically for improving the way officers and managers handle performance evaluations.
Jim Carney, assistant vice president of human resources at the Central Falls credit union, said the company is implementing a new form for performance evaluations and hopes the training will help managers create evaluations that are meaningful and constructive.
“We try to do as much in-house promotion as we can,” he added. “We’re trying to give them the tools to move up.”
Carney said Navigant decided to use The Employers Association for further training because they had used them in the past for helping with human resources issues, specifically helping develop new position descriptions as the credit union has added positions.
“We were overwhelmed with human resources issues,” Carney said. “As we grow we need more controls. … It’s very cost effective to let them handle it as opposed to in-house.”
The Employers Association isn’t the only one of its kind offering training tailored to specific needs, however. According to the National Association of Manufacturers Employer Association Group, based in Washington, D.C., many employers’ associations across the company are discovering that specialty training in areas such as leadership is a growth market.
Additionally, the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations (NAPEO) , which provide services for human resources similar to employers associations but additionally recruit and pay payroll taxes for member companies, has found that “the next and greatest trend in the PEO industry is high-end human-resources services, including leadership training,” said Edie Clark, spokeswoman for the NAPEO.
It’s happening because the PEOs are working for member companies that are “dealing with a market that appears to be turning down, so they are even more competitive,” Clark said. “They need all the tools to keep the best and the brightest workers.” << Back to News |
