Chamber promotes tuition assistance, support programs

For the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, education is an economic development tool.

Prompted by grant funds from the Lumina Foundation, which is campaigning nationally to increase U.S. post-secondary credentials 60 percent by 2025, the chamber has developed an Employer’s Guide on tuition assistance and support programs.

One carrot guiding the effort is the promise of economic returns. According to the Lumina Foundation’s review of the Springfield area, a 1 percent increase in the postsecondary education rate would impact the economy by $225 million. To see those returns, 3,000 more local workers must complete a two-year bachelor’s or graduate degree.

Springfield is one of 75 communities the Lumina Foundation selected for a two-year planning grant to support partnerships between local employers and educators to develop workforce skills. The city and its partners were awarded $120,000 to enhance educational opportunities for high school juniors and seniors and local employees.

Lindsay Haymes, manager of business assistance for the Springfield chamber, is working with employers and employees alike to promote training and credential attainment with a goal of improving the city’s workforce and retaining skilled talent.

“We know that employers have a hard time finding the right kind of talent – people with the right skill sets, people with the right type of experience for their industry. Knowing that, one of the tools that employers can have to entice professionals to come work for them is by offering some kind of tuition assistance or tuition-support program,” Haymes said.

Lumina named Community Foundation of the Ozarks fiscal agent for the grant, and CFO already has created a steering committee to improve outcomes. CFO President Brian Fogle said grant partners are Missouri State, Drury and Evangel universities, Ozarks Technical Community College, Springfield Public Schools, Missouri College Advising Corps, the Springfield chamber and the Missouri Career Center.  

“The funds have been used for various things, from diversity training for the universities, training for our partners, outreach to Springfield high school students, etc.,” Fogle said by email.

Haymes, who is also the executive director of the Greater Ozarks Centers for Advanced Professional Studies, said the grant funding backs efforts to develop a more skilled workforce.

According to human resources firm Namely’s 2015 research, 27 percent of employees feel that paid training and tuition reimbursement are very important to their overall job satisfaction. Additionally, The Center for American Progress estimates turnover costs for employees earning around $50,000 reach nearly 20 percent of the lost employer’s salary. For lost executives, the amount jumps to 213 percent of the employer’s salary.

In the Springfield area, the Employer’s Guide identifies 28 organizations with over 50 employees that offer some form of tuition assistance. Among those employers are CoxHealth, Dairy Farmers of America Inc., Olsson Associates Inc., Paul Mueller Co. and Positronic Industries Inc.

Pete Manglaviti, technical trainer for JMark Business Solutions Inc., said career development through technical education is part of the tech firm’s culture.

“We’re not just training technically, we’re trying to build business owners,” he said.

Manglaviti said he has a technical plan for every service-related employee because the firm likes to hire from within when advanced posts at JMark become available.

“I meet with them throughout the month. We’ll talk about their goals, we map certification out, and we give them all the resources,” he said. “It is a very active part of our culture. It’s not just, ‘Hey, pass this course and take this test.’ We spend time ‘careering,’ start to finish.”

Electrical-connector manufacturer Positronic Industries Inc. has a 50-year history of supporting continuing education.

“We provide a tuition-reimbursement program that gives our employees the opportunity to go back to school in support of their position or any position that they would like to have in the future,” said Mary Ling, Positronic’s global human resources manager.

Company employees – there are about 370 in Missouri – can be reimbursed up to $5,250 per year for their continuing education, Ling said. The company’s reimbursement program, which currently is assisting seven workers, has been around since the company was founded in 1966. It’s apprenticeship program, also currently serving seven employees, dates back to 1983. That effort, which pairs on-the-job training with classroom study, began in the tool shop and expanded to other departments in 1991 when the Department of Labor began coordinating local efforts through OTC, she said.

Last year, Positronic spent $28,000 on its educational-based employee benefits.

“We want to help families further themselves in their lives and futures. It’s a company benefit because we have a bit of a motto: ‘It is better to train them and have them leave, than to keep them and never train them at all,’” she said.  
 
Manglaviti started with JMark about four years ago but has 20 years of experience in training altogether. He’s worked for companies in the past that had concerns if they gave their employees too much training, they’d be more apt to leave. The mindset at JMark, he said, is different.

“We spend a lot of money on training them, but we believe if we do that, they’re going to stay loyal,” Manglaviti said of the 110-employee firm. “When somebody gives a crap about you, you’re going to stay around.”