As businesses respond to the COVID crisis, a major concern is having enough funds to support continued employee training and development. Businesses are facing additional training needs as employees are trained for work in a new and adaptive business environment, and new employees are trained to fill positions of those who do not return to the workplace.
The State of California is prepared to help businesses with these additional training expenditures through the Employment Training Panel (ETP). The ETP was created to reimburse California business owners for training their employees and to ensure businesses have the skilled workers they need to compete locally and globally. The ETP provides over $100 million annually to subsidize employee training. Typically, an eligible business will receive a reimbursement check from the state between $750 and $1,250 per employee in the ETP program.
The ETP allows business owners the flexibility to determine the training topics their employees need. Activities eligible for reimbursement include training offered internally as well as training provided by an external third party. Training may be in person or in a digital/remote format.
The three main areas of training are business skills, software skills, and commercial skills.
Business skills can include:
- Leadership
- Team building
- Communications
- Problem resolution
- Customer service
- Presentation skills
- Sales skills
- Time management
- Managing change
Software skills can include:
- Microsoft office
- ERP software
- Accounting software
- MRP software
- Purchase order tracking
- Timekeeping
- Cost reporting
- Document control
- 3-D modeling
Commercial skills (anything needed to produce the company product or service) can include:
- Just-in-time process
- Lean processes
- Value-added incentives
- Operating procedure
- AS9100 inspection
- Equipment maintenance
- Key performance indicators
- Tooling requirements
- Forklift certification
Typically, businesses in the construction, manufacturing, and healthcare industries are well positioned to take advantage of the benefits of the ETP program. There is a preliminary application to determine the company’s qualifications and pay rate. Once approved, the company will be eligible for reimbursement. Employees must be employed 90 days after their last training was completed to qualify for the reimbursement.
The program has strict record keeping requirements and businesses may want to seek guidance before completing the application. Windes can connect businesses to the proper resources to best navigate the ETP program.
If you have questions or would like more information, please contact Christy Woods at cwoods@windes.com or 844.4WINDES (844.494.6337).
