Attention: All Associates

In the Engagement Survey, there were many comments regarding promotional opportunities and career paths.  Below are some comments from our Director of Learning & Development, Jim Weidaw, on this subject.

New Career & Learning Path For On-Site Occupations
For the past few months, the Learning & Development team has been working with representatives from Operations to design a new Career & Learning Path for on-site occupations. While not fully complete, there has been considerable progress. Below are some of the components of this new plan:

• Each career path will have “steps.” There will be multiple clearly-defined steps that explain  how a person can grow and manage their career with Essex. Each step will have clearly stated qualifications so employees will understand what they must know and demonstrate to be considered for promotion.
• Learning plans each step of the way. For each step in the career path, the Learning department is building a specific learning plan so each employee can have access to the training they may need to be considered for promotion. Over the summer, the L&D department will be working hard to create many new courses and trainings to support employees’ career success.

What will these trainings be like?
The L&D department’s goal is to create training that:

• can be easily consumed
• is directly related to helping employees perform their current job better and better
• help employees gain the knowledge and skills needed to grow their careers

 This means that the training will be:

• shorter and more specific
• will increasingly be available on desktop or mobile so employees don’t have to travel to training

 More to come!
There are also changes underway to improve Learning Bridge and Yardi eLearning so it is easier for employees to find training and build a comprehensive transcript of their learning success.

A lot of work will be done over the summer, so look for announcements in the fall.