Job Opportunities

Employees who participate in WEPs are more responsive, flexible, and better able to take on new responsibilities:

• Higher Success Rate in Promoting Employees Within the Organization

• Higher Success Rate in Transferring Employees Within the Organization

  Percentage of Employees Citing Benefits Relating to
Enhanced Job Opportunities
(n=37)

Most employees interviewed feel that participating in WEPs helps their chances of being promoted or moved into a different position within the organization.

Almost 80 per cent of employees interviewed stated that the training helped people in their organization be promoted and over 50 per cent said that it improved their own chances of being transferred to a different area of the organization.

Participating in WEPs gives employees more opportunities to get and keep the kinds of jobs they want. In some cases, the training results in a promotion for the employee.

"Because of the training, I received my GED and moved up to a Supervisor in the Dietary Department. All the classes that I received helped to get me where I am today and also to keep my job."

WEPs promote skills that help employees to be able to take on diverse tasks. Because the training broadens employee skill sets, their adaptability and flexibility is enhanced. This often leads to employees being given increased responsibilities within the organization. Training for one employee working for a sheet metal manufacturer allowed him to increase his responsibilities from simply sawing and cutting material to include receiving materials, placing orders, and controlling inventory. Training opened up new challenges for him and he feels confident in his ability to adapt to these new requirements. Another employee felt that the English-language training was a major step forward in terms of opening doors for employees whose first language is not English.

"There is a lot of fear among non-native English speakers. Language seems like a barrier to moving around in a company. They feel very uncomfortable around English speakers."

Training also opens up opportunities for employees to participate in organizational tasks that were previously closed to them; including inter-departmental teams and reviews.

"Getting involved in the training has allowed me to be included on teams I normally wouldn’t have been on. For example, I was asked to be on a team to do a time study in order to redesign the assembly areas to improve the flow. If I hadn’t taken the course I wouldn’t have been asked."

Even when employees do not immediately receive a promotion or a sought-after transfer, taking part in training often changes the way that they are perceived by their supervisors and others within the organization.

"I haven’t had a promotion yet, but I believe that participating in the training had made other people look at me in a different light—it has improved my image and status."

Ultimately, all of these factors result in employees being given opportunities to do the kinds of jobs they want.

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Last updated: February 23, 2001 .