ALTERNATIVE
PATHWAYS
Sean Stowers, CPTM
NOVEMBER 2016

Frontline workers know the ins
and outs of company operations
and are the heartbeat of the
business.
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However, most companies
do not have training or
education programs for
continued development of
their team.
It’s time to shift the focus to recruiting
career employees and developing
talent through a framework for
lifelong employability. So what does
that road map look like?
Let me show you.

04 Building Frontline Workers
05 Corporate Learning & Development
07 Integrating Prior Learning
09 Bringing It All Together
S E C T I O N S
ALTERNATIVE
LEARNING
PATHWAYS

Building Your
Frontline Workers
First, go read a recent article in the New York Times that
outlines how Walmart achieved cleaner stores and higher
sales…through frontline employee development. They not
only pay their employees more now, but they also launched
an extensive training program and the results are
staggering.
The Cliff Note’s version goes like this: Walmart surveyed its
customers and found only 16 percent of stores were
meeting customer satisfaction goals (GASP!) and on top of
that its revenue fell in 2015 for the first time in 45 years.
Executives came up with a brilliant solution, increase
employees’ wages, develop frontline workers to take on
more responsibilities and train employees in person and
through video. Voilà the work force has improved, the
shopper experience has improved and interestingly enough,
employees are spending more money where they work.
Of course, Walmart is a huge corporation with many
resources, but I think it is possible for all size companies to
start shifting how they source talent and how they develop
career pathways for their employees, in turn, creating
lifelong employees for their businesses. “Research by The
Institute for Corporate Productivity shows that having
front-line workers take advantage of development
opportunities drives business performance,” Kevin Martin,
chief research and marketing officer for the Institute for
Corporate Productivity, said. It also helps make the
business sustainable, since it creates a pipeline of talent to
fill open positions and it improves the customer experience.”
The steps to develop training and career paths will differ
for each company. It can start as simple as setting up an
educational assistance benefit that helps employee garner
higher degrees or an incentive program to complete
company trainings. In my upcoming posts, I’ll dive deeper
into how to create learning programs that work for you and
tapping into employee’s prior learning.
To wrap up, we will continue to see more companies shifting
their focus to recruiting career employees. In order for all
companies to compete for the best talent, businesses must-
have career development baked into their guiding
principles. (If you feel like your company is DOA on this
subject, don’t worry more to come from me on this.)
As a learning professional, I think companies
can and should start developing their
frontline talent and giving them a framework
for lifelong employability. Now for all you
that are starting to think…but what about
the bottom line…can companies really afford
to do this? I’ll explain below why companies
can’t afford NOT to do this.
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A Paradigm Shift for
Corporate Learning and
Development
We hear lots of talk these days about Millennials and their tendency to “job hop.” A LinkedIn study showed exactly that. On average,
those who graduated from college in the 1980s have had more than 1.6 jobs while 2006 and 2010 grads have averaged 2.85 jobs.
With that, we’re also seeing an increase in “boomerang employees,” those who work at a company for a few years, leave to expand their
experience, and ultimately return to their original employer. Business Insider does a good job of explaining why boomerang employees are
valuable, but I would argue they’re even more valuable if they never have the reason to leave.
So, what does this have to do with corporate learning? I would say: Everything! Maybe this increase in boomerang employees and job
hopping is an indication that we’re looking for and developing our talent incorrectly. I propose we help retain talent by turning the idea of
talent identification and talent development on its head. Instead of looking for employees who can already do exactly what we want, why
don’t we help them get there, and moreover, continue to invest in them to ultimately prevent them from leaving to seek development
elsewhere? I know, I made it sound simple, but there are a lot of moving parts here. Let’s take it one step at a time:
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1 Skill development & context: Now that
we’ve found the employees with the key
skills necessary for the given position,
let’s teach them what we want them to
know! If we provide job-specific training
we can be sure these employees will gain
the skills we need them to have. What’s
more, we can give them immediate
applications for these skills - REAL work
experience! – and in doing so let’s make
sure this learning can be recognized in a
larger framework of learning and
employability (If this has you asking: “wait
- how do I design this for myself?” don’t
stress.
3
Furthering education: This final step is truly what will save
you from the boomerang employee - or worse, one that
leaves and never comes back. A recent study from Pearson
showed that 72 percent of adults feel they need to further
their education in order to continue to advance in their given
field. So - don’t give employees are reason to seek this
education elsewhere. This is about using all of the tools you
have to develop your workforce strategically, such as tuition
assistance programs, tuition reimbursement, alternative
credit learning, in-house courses and learning experiences.
No matter how you do it, investing in your employee’s
education will make them feel wanted, allow them to
advance in their careers and ultimately give you even better
employees.
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2
Talent identification: Typically, this means
sorting through piles and piles of resumes,
searching for the candidate with the exact
right amount of experience, breadth and
depth of skills, who also give a great in-
person interview. In this new model, we’d
identify people with raw talent - customer
service candidates with warm personalities,
aspiring engineers with great problem-
solving skills - you get the idea. Instead of
focusing on education and other job
experience, look for the basic skills and traits
that one needs to be good at this job.

Integrating Prior Learning to
a the Pathway
Most employees you will hire will have some
type of prior learning or skill experience,
whether it’s having exceptionally fast math
skills from splitting tips or having
mechanical ability from fixing trucks or
tractors on the family farm – all skills and
knowledge they may not have learned in a
traditional education setting.
The ever-popular beer brand Heineken
(cheers!) has won numerous accolades for
their out-of-the-box thinking on employee
recruitment. In 2013, they developed the
“Go Places” website that prompts users to
answers a series of quiz questions at a
lighting fast pace. The quiz helps to hone in
on previous skills you acquired that could
be applied to a job at a Heineken and also
gauges personalities.
If you do decide to apply for a job at
Heineken, the quiz results must be sent with
your resume when you apply.
Here is an excerpt from an article in
AdWeek. Cloudfactory creative Sandrine
Huijgen adds: "We spent a lot of time
interviewing employees. As during Freddy's
time, employees are being sent around the
world on difficult missions and need their
personality as much as their skills to be
successful."
Heineken’s example is an uber creative way
of tapping into employees previous skills
(and personalities), but I would encourage
you to take a look at your company. What
makes your company tick, what is your
company’s personality and what type of
skills are you looking to recruit for. Make
talent and skill identification work for you!
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Integrating prior learning is an important strategy for your
company’s employee retention and recruitment efforts
because by incorporating what they already know you can
then take the next step and educate them for the purpose
of retention. It’s really very simple… Employee education +
Employee Incentive = A Dedicated, Retained Employee. (I
can see your bottom line smiling from here!) Here’s a little
data tidbit to back up my claim, a recent study from
Pearson stated the majority of its respondents are looking
for an education provider to offer useful skills and
knowledge for the future job market.
I know this all sounds logical, but also likely abstract. Let’s
talk through an example: Imagine a technology company
hires an administrative assistant, who began to get a
bachelor’s in business with a focus on finance, but never
completed his degree. Some may argue that the best way
to help him advance in his career is by offering him tuition
assistance to help him to complete his bachelor’s degree,
and then his master’s in order to advance to a manager
position in the finance department. I would argue that’s not
the only way to go.
By building a pathway that allows for recognition of prior
learning, combined with alternative credit options, the
company could also help this employee take the
background he already has in finance and apply it to parts
of his administrative work.For example having
demonstrated a strong understanding of the company’s
finances, he could be mentored by someone in accounts
payable to learn that aspect of the business, ultimately
allowing him to advance his career. Along the way, they
could provide career and academic advising in conjunction
with tuition reimbursement to ensure that this employee is
both equipped for success in degree completion and that he
is able to maximize credit from prior learning, shortening the
path.
The key here is that rather than forcing this employee into a
traditional model of skill development for advancement, the
company is creating a system in which the needs of the
learner and the skills needed for their job have intersected.
The learner is provided with a range of tools and
experiences that will arm them with the skills that can be
directly applied to the job and the tasks associated with it.
While class time and higher education are an extremely
important part of career development for some jobs and
industries, I think the key is recognizing where prior
learning can be applied directly to one’s work and to the
academic pathway.
"It’s really very simple. Employee
education + Employee Incentive =
A Dedicated, Retained Employee. A
recent study from Pearson stated
the majority of its respondents are
looking for an education provider
to offer useful skills and knowledge
for the future job market."
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Bringing it all
together
Right out of high school, Amanda worked in a retail clothing
shop, but wasn’t enjoying the culture and decided that she
wanted to pursue something that would give her more of a
chance to challenge herself. She completed an
accreditation course and earned a Certified Nurse’s
Assistant (CNA) designation. She is extremely good with
people, enjoys caring for her patients and is eager to find a
job in healthcare.
Now meet her future employer. This health system is not
only dedicated to its patients, but has chosen to invest
significantly in employee development. The HR department
has done extensive research on the benefits of alternative
learning pathways and has decided to implement some of
these different tactics to grow its team. It has invested a
small portion of its budget in to in-house training videos
(nothing Oscar worthy, but they get the job done) and have
put policies in place in their employee manual to outline how
the company handles training and education. Amanda
applies for a job as a CNA with them because they have a
good reputation in the community. The team that interviews
her can see her natural inclination for working with people
and chooses to hire her. And her new path to learning
begins…
TRAINING: Amanda’s first few months on the job are
action packed. She was immediately assigned a mentor, one
of the Registered Nurses (RN) on staff, to help her become
familiar with the day-to-day responsibilities of the job and
having the opportunity to practice of her skills by working
directly with patients.
The nurse leadership takes the time to teach Amanda the
ins and outs of the health system’s processes, giving
Amanda a real-life application for the skills she learned in
her certificate program. While Amanda still has a lot to
learn, the company is maximizing her training by teaching
her to do her job the way they prefer things to be done,
making her the ideal employee. While the company is
investing time and resources in this training process and in
Amanda herself right off the bat, they are getting the
ultimate return - a highly skilled, passionate, well-trained
employee.
FURTHER EDUCATION: After a few years of work in her
CNA position, Amanda expresses an interest to her
manager about growing her skills and pursuing a career as
an RN. Because the company culture is centered on
continued employee education, there was a solid plan in
place for getting Amanda access to an associates or
bachelors in nursing and set her up to succeed on the
licenser exam she will take upon completing her degree. The
health system offered her tuition assistance as well as in-
housing trainings on the role of f RNs specific to their
company. Amanda comfortably passed the RN licensure
exam and advanced to a role as an RN. Over time, Amanda
hopes to also strengthen her leadership skills and eventually
become a nurse manager.
Why is Amanda’s story so important? It’s a prime example
of how employees can be trained creatively to be the ideal
employee for a specific organization, and that they, in turn,
feel valued and choose to grow their careers within that
company, rather than seeking new experience elsewhere.
Meet Amanda - she is in her mid-20s and is
about to begin her search for a job in the
health care industry.
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An example of how this new model comes to life