Chess And Beer Making Unorthodox Training Delivers Results

With training and development becoming the next big benefit, one company is trying to make its program not just good for you, but fun as well.

Until recently Agency.com, a New York-based technological consulting firm, didn’t have a training and development program.

But now the 5-year-old company has come up with a strategy designed not just to give workers the skills they need, but also to “celebrate employees” and give them reasons to stay.

Aspects of Agency.com’s training program are, shall we say, a little unorthodox. Some might say it’s not wise to waste valuable training dollars on a chess or beer-making class.

But Marie Mann, vice president of human resources, says it’s all about those magic words: recruiting and retention.

The company cautions against teaching people only job skills. “It’s such a competitive market that anything you can do to keep people connected, you should do,” she explains.

“People don’t leave companies. They leave people. We want to create an environment where people can have true colleagueship and sharing.”

Training dollars constitute 3% of the company’s payroll. “We depend, rely and thrive on the fact that the people here are incredibly creative,” she says.

“What is good about this [approach] is that it goes across hierarchy levels. There’s stuff to be learned from a lot of people. There’s all kinds of learning going diagonally, up and down and across.”

Every office has something going on every week. It’s important, Mann says, to have a “really strong community in the company.”

“These are things that make it difficult for people to leave,” she says. “At the end of the day, it’s all about what we do for our clients. The work is only as good as the people we have, so it’s important to keep them happy.” – Article by Karen Lee; condensed by Stuart Dawson.

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Chess And Beer Making Unorthodox Training Delivers Results - To learn more about this author, visit Susan Regier's Website.

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