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Company Paid Training?
screenbert asks: "My employer has just dropped a bombshell on me. He's offered $50,000 in training over the next year to each person in our group. Yes per person. Normally I wouldn't think twice about it, but he's having legal draw up contracts that will require us to pay for the training if we leave. I'm not really happy with my current employer due to changes company-wide.
I've worked for companies in the past that had programs like this, but never with that kind of money, usually 5-10K. Should I take the training and stick it out for the 3 years, or just put it off?" That's a lot of money to drop in training, but given that it's always wise to keep up your skill set, might this be worth it.
Although I doubt this kind of situation would happen often, it is something to keep in mind when taking training with a condition like the one mentioned. $50,000 seems a little excessive to me.
Don't be a dumbass.
Find a competent labor lawyer and ask his advice, and absolutely don't assume a potential $50K liability without having a lawyer look at it. Don't let them fuck around with you on this.
This is serious money. You have a right to know your options from a competent source.
As far as I know, there is some precedence for this sort of arrangement. On the other hand $50K is a hell of a lot for one year's education and training for one person. If the training would be easily applied to another job, like a Harvard MBA (which is a hell of a lot cheaper, by the way), then you should be more willing to consider it. On the other hand, you have a right to not become an indentured servant.
This sounds kinda fishy.
Talk to a labor lawyer! Try calling your local bar association. They should be able to refer you to one. Or just look in the phone book. An initial consultation should be less than $100.
evanchik.net
Questions on the topic of employer paid training have been asked before: quite a few times.
Some of the details covered in the previous discussions apply here in spades due to the amount and duration in question: The reimbursement MUST be only required in cases of voluntary separation, and MUST be pro-rated down over time (i.e. quit after 1 year and owe 2/3, after 2 years and owe 1/3).
They really want to give you $50K? Does that INCLUDE the cost of paying your salary while you are in class? Otherwise I can't see what they expect you to take... even if a class costs $5K/week, is your employer really going to give you 10 weeks of training? Or is the amount a 3-year total, or intended for grad school, or...?
In short, this sounds like a GREAT opportunity, but what will be expected of you as a result? What are the company-wide changes that make you question staying on? Is your employer specifying the classes? Be careful with this... and most especially be very careful with the conditions requiring reimbursement. You'd really hate to be stuck paying the company back a huge chunk of cash if they did a RIF, or re-assigned you as a janitor to force you to quit, etc.
The Crystal Wind is the Storm, and the Storm is Data, and the Data is Life
If you dislike your job, it is my strong opinion that you should not stay for anything. It all depends on how much you dislike your job of course. But hey man, happiness is a hell of a lot more important that money.
Find a cool job that you don't detest going to every day. Every moment that slips by you can never get back. Enjoy it while you can.
My opinion is to be very, very careful about this.
You can certainly spend $50,000 on training. You may not be able to get $50,000 in value.
The only people who are successful in computing, I have found, are people who teach themselves. The field is too fast-moving to have a good class in every subject. On the contrary, I have never seen a class that was excellent. Everyone has his or her own special needs. It is unlikely those needs can be met in a group.
People in the field of computing need the skills to pick up a book of 1,000 pages and extract useful information in less than a day. Developing those skills is of fundamental importance to being successful in our field. You can only develop the skills needed to teach yourself by teaching yourself.
Also, consider the business tactics here. Why would your company want this arrangement? It is easy to guess. They don't care about the training. They want to lock you in to your present salary for a very small amount of money. No doubt your employer has seen the cost of acquiring and keeping an employee with computer skills, and no doubt that cost is greater than $16,666.67 per year ($50,000 / 3 years).
It is easy to guess that you will find yourself not getting raises when you should. It is easy to guess that the value of lost raises might be more than the actual value of the agreement.
You say, "I'm not really happy with my current employer...". Take this seriously. It may be your brain saying that you don't like something that it, at present, quite well hidden, such as, for example, that your current employer is sneaky.
Maybe you won't be able to spend $50,000 in one year. However, you will still be locked into the 3 years of the agreement, won't you? Maybe the company knows you can't spend $50,000, and would find some reason not to let you, if you tried. Remember, the arrangement requires you to do useful work in that year, also. They can reduce the amount you spend easily, by merely assigning you to a rush job.
In reality, this arrangement may just reflect a desire to lock the average employee in your group into 3 years of unsatisfactory employment for much less than $50,000.
The trick here is that the employer is guessing that the average employee in your group will not have the cash in the bank to allow himself or herself to change employers. Remember, anyone who tries to trick you is a crook. It doesn't matter if that person is successful.
...That you won't have to pay anything if THEY fire YOU. As long as that is true, you don't have to worry about things going sour in the future, becuase you can always just force them to fire you.
"Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!"