The Economic Pay-Offs To On-The-Job Training In Routine Service Work

This study examines the relationship between on-the-job training and job performance among 3,408 telephone operators in a large unionized telecommunications company. We utilize individual data on monthly training hours and job performance over a five-month period as provided by the company’s electronic monitoring system. Results indicate that the receipt of on-the-job training is associated with significantly higher productivity over time, when unobserved individual heterogeneity is taken into account. Moreover, workers with lower pre-training proficiency show greater improvements over time than those with higher pre-training proficiency. Finally, whether the training is provided by a supervisor or a peer also matters. Workers with lower proficiency achieve greater productivity gains through supervisor training, while workers with higher proficiency achieve greater productivity gains through peer training

Making On-the-Job Training Work: Lessons from the Boeing Manufacturing On-the-Job Training Project

The need to build a more robust workforce development pipeline is evident in the hundreds of thousands of job openings in our nation's advanced manufacturing industry. Rapid technological change has created a severe skills gap, compounded by a pending wave of retirements due to the aging of the workforce.Investment in industry-driven on-the-job training (OJT) can be an effective workforce development strategy in this economy. This brief explores one promising OJT model: the Boeing Manufacturing On-the-Job Training Project (the "Boeing Project"), funded by The Boeing Company and managed by the National Fund for Workforce Solutions (National Fund).The Boeing project demonstrates that a well-designed OJT initiative can be valuable for both workers and employers. The project provided insight into the best uses of on-the-job training within the workforce development system, as well as recommendations for which design elements are most likely to help programs succeed. Results show that the OJT model is well suited for creating career advancement opportunities for entry-level employees, as well as for helping workforce development partnerships build relationships with employers. Between the summer of 2012 and the spring of 2013, the Boeing OJT project placed 101 unemployed workers into training at 39 advanced manufacturing companies. Eight regional workforce industry partnerships of the National Fund provided employers with 50 percent wage subsidies during training periods of between 10 and 15 weeks. At the end of this training, employers retained 91 of those workers. Employers and employees overwhelmingly found the program beneficial, reporting high levels of satisfaction with the training experiences and the skills required.The following are the three key lessons learned from the project about the role of on-the-job training in workforce development:On-the-job training is well suited to customize training to the employer's specific needs, while creating career advancement opportunities for entry-level workersOn-the-job training must include clear employer incentives to consider low-skilled candidates-and to hire newly trained workers-in order to serve as an effective job placement strategy for low-skilled, unemployed adultsCreating on-the-job initiatives helps workforce development programs strengthen existing partnerships with employers and build new employer relationships

Older Workers and On-the-Job Training in Canada: Evidence from the WES Data

This paper provides evidence of on-the-job training among older workers in Canada. It also examines the effect of age associated with on-the-job training. Statistics Canada’s Workplace and Employee Survey (WES) 2001 data, linking employee responses to workplace (i.e. employer) responses are used. Three quarters of workers are categorized as middle aged, with about one in ten being younger and one in five considered to be older. Only 32% of Canadian workers received on-the-job training in the year preceding this survey. When separating workers into the three age categories, 37%, 34%, and 24% of younger, middle-aged, and older workers, respectively, received on-the-job training in that year. Logistic regression analysis results showed that, controlling for workplace, job and individual factors, as compared to middle-aged workers, older workers are significantly less likely to receive on-the-job training. The lack of on-the-job training for older workers should be a concern for policy makers at a time when labour shortages are being predicted. Older workers are healthier than ever and the provision of on-the-job training should be encouraged to retain older workers in the labour market in Canada.older workers, on-the-job training, Workplace and Employment Survey

Alternative Staffing Organizations and Skills: Linking Temporary Work with Training

This paper provides a brief research background on the field of alternative staffing and what we have learned about connecting job brokering activities with training and education opportunities. This includes drawing on recent research by the Center for Social Policy on the Alternative Staffing Demonstration II, 2008 to 2011, funded by the Charles Stewart (C. S.) Mott Foundation. The paper also offers several points for consideration in connecting temporary help workers to training opportunities. Specifically, it puts the role of alternative staffing in the context of the entry-level job market and discusses the value of staffing services from the perspective of job seekers, customer businesses, and the workforce development field. A number of examples are provided of training programs and partnerships that combine skills development with job brokering. Overall, we address two questions: 1) What do we know about connecting staffing services with training opportunities?, and 2) What are some promising examples of connecting ASO workers to skills training

Underinvestment in on-the Job Training?

[Excerpt] A growing number of commentators are pointing to employer sponsored training (OJT)as a critical ingredient in a nation\u27s competitiveness. American employers appear to devote less time and resources to the training of entry level blue collar, clerical and service employees than employers in Germany and Japan (Limprecht and Hayes 1982, Mincer and Higuchi 1988, Koike 1984, Noll et al 1984, Wiederhold-Fritz 1985). In the United States, only 33 percent of workers with 1 to 5 years of tenure report having received skill improvement training from their current employer (Hollenbeck and Wilkie 1985). Analyzing 1982 NLS-Youth data, Parsons (1985) reports that only 34 to 40 percent of the young workers in clerical, operative, service and laborer jobs reported that it was very true that the skills [I am] learning would be valuable in getting a better job. The payoffs to getting jobs which offer training appear to be very high, however. In Parson\u27s study, having a high learning job rather than a no learning job in 1979 increased a male youth\u27s 1982 wage rate by 13.7 percent. While the 1980 job had no such effect, the 1981 job raised wages by 7.2 percent when it was a high learning job rather than a no learning job

The return to firm investments in human capital

In this paper we estimate the rate of return to firm investments in human capital in the form of formal job training. We use a panel of large firms with detailed information on the duration of training, the direct costs of training, and several firm characteristics. Our estimates of the return to training are substantial (8.6%) for those providing training. Results suggest that formal job training is a good investment for these firms possibly yielding comparable returns to either investments in physical capital or investments in schooling

Estimating the Returns to Firm-Sponsored On-the-Job and Classroom Training

In this paper, we estimate returns to classroom and on-the-job firm-sponsored training in terms of value-added per worker using longitudinal linked employee-employer Canadian data from 1999 to 2006. We estimate a standard production function controlling for endogenous training decisions because of perceived net benefits and time-varying market conditions using dynamic panel GMM methods. We find that employees who undertook classroom training are 11 percent more productive than otherwise similar employees. We show that returns to on-the-job training are on average lower (3.4 percent). We provide evidence that these lower returns are due to on-the-job training being more closely related to turnover and more geared toward subjects that are less productivity-enhancing.productivity, on-the-job training, classroom training, turnover, subjects of training

Task Organization, Human Capital and Wages in Moroccan Exporting Firms

We conduct a case study of the linkages of task organization, human capital accumulation and wages in Morocco, using matched worker-firm data for Electrical-mechanical and Textile-clothing industries. In order to integrate task organization into the interacting processes of workers’ training and remunerations, we use a recursive model, which is not rejected by our estimates: task organization influences on-the-job training that affects wages. Beyond sector and gender determinants, assignment of workers to tasks and on-the-job training is found to depend on former education and work experience in a broad sense. Meanwhile, participation in on-the-job training is stimulated by being assigned to a team, especially of textile sector and for well educated workers. Finally, task organization and on-the-job training are found to affect wages.Morocco, Wages, On-the-job training, Human capital, Task organization.

Task Organization, Human Capital and Wages in Moroccan Exporting Firms

We conduct a case study of the linkages of task organization, human capital accumulation and wages in Morocco, using matched worker-firm data for Electrical-mechanical and Textile-clothing industries. In order to integrate task organization into the interacting processes of workers’ training and remunerations, we use a recursive model, which is not rejected by our estimates: task organization influences on-the-job training that affects wages. Beyond sector and gender determinants, assignment of workers to tasks and onthe- job training is found to depend on former education and work experience in a broad sense. Meanwhile, participation in on-the-job training is stimulated by being assigned to a team, especially of textile sector and for well educated workers. Finally, task organization and on-the-job training are found to affect wages.Morocco, Wages, On-the-job training, Human capital, Task organization.