Back in the classroom, moving on up

At the University, there are numerous programs designed to provide campus workers with a way to respond to Obama’s call. Princeton offers an extensive repertoire of free programs for all campus faculty and staff, from job training to personal development to financial aid for continuing education. In light of the financial downturn, these programs may assume a greater significance for workers struggling to qualify for advancement in their professions and maintain their standard of living.

For those with an eye toward career advancement, Princeton offers several opportunities for employees with the necessary business and management skills to succeed in their professional lives.

One such program, the Sous Chef Development Program, provides advanced culinary opportunities to Dining Services workers. Launched in 1999, the program offers promotional opportunities to union dining staff members who have been unable to meet the educational requirements for management positions.

Since the inception of the Sous Chef program, four graduates have been promoted, University spokesperson Cass Cliatt ’96 said.

Another resource for employees is the Management Development Certificate, which offers a specialized set of courses for all workers, with curricula ranging from writing skills to presentation and communication skills. The program comprises five required courses specific to the employee’s profession and three electives of his or her choice.

“Our main purpose is to help the professional … development of the employees of the University, whether they’re managers, frontline staff or janitors,” explained Maureen Imbrenda, director of learning and development for Human Resources and coordinator of this program. The programs are structured to “provide tools and resources to make [Princeton employees] successful in their jobs,” she added.

Imbrenda said there is a “steady flow” of enrollment into the educational development programs. “We have folks, anywhere from half a dozen to a dozen people, enrolling each week into a program,” Imbrenda said.

Candy Reed, who has been a communications specialist in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering for roughly a year, is currently enrolled in the program.

She started in the Core Learning Curriculum, however, which offers the same classes as the Management Development Certificate without the five-class requirement of the certificate. This program is ideal for workers who wish to pick and choose among offered courses, Reed said. It is targeted toward “the worker who just wants to take a class on learning how to communicate more effectively, but [is] not really interested in taking, for example, a diversity class,” Imbrenda noted.

After beginning courses in the Core Learning Curriculum, Reed began hearing about other opportunities.

“[Human resources] offers a ton of programs, and when I started taking them, they kept asking in the beginning, ‘Who is part of the Management Development Certificate class?’ “ Reed explained. “I just thought, ‘This is silly. I’m already taking the classes and might as well see what the whole certificate is about.’ ”

As part of her continuing education, Reed has taken classes on performance management, legal aspects supervision, coaching, effective interaction management, performance management appraisals and setting expectations.

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Reed lauded the high-quality skills the programs teach and the wide range of situations to which they apply.

“The teachers are really good, and they do a lot of role-playing, so you can bring real problems from your job into a confidential situation,” she said. “It really helps you meet other people in the University and know who does what and who you can ask for help if you run into issues at work.”

While Imbrenda noted that the Management Development Certificate helps “position [workers], if the opportunity presents itself, for advancement,” Reed said she was not driven by a desire to rise up the occupational hierarchy.

“When I first came [to the certificate], everything was related to [my job], you know, how to write e-mails, how to communicate with others,” Reed explained. But the sheer joy of learning soon took over, Reed explained.

“I’m here to learn more,” Reed said. “I’m not interested in being promoted. I am where I am, and I love what I do, and I’m interested in taking [the classes] because they’re really beneficial.”

Paying the costs beyond FitzRandolph Gate

In addition to helping employees achieve success on campus, University programs also deliver financial resources to workers who wish to take academic courses elsewhere.

The Staff Educational Assistance Program covers 85 percent of tuition and mandatory education fees for employees who have worked at the University at least four years and are taking courses in pursuit of an undergraduate or graduate degree, Cliatt noted.

But a retail food service employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity said he was not aware of the reimbursement program.

“I’m going to culinary school to get my degree,” he said, adding that the University should provide “more money for education” to its employees.

When informed he may be able to get 85 percent of his fees covered through the program, he exclaimed “Oh, that’s enough!”

Still, he said he hoped the University could help a little more.

“[The University] could go higher now because we at Princeton; Princeton got that.”

Time is money?

Not all workers interviewed said the educational programs accommodate their individual circumstances.

A Butler-Wilson Dining Services worker who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the programs are enticing, but low pay leaves her with inadequate time to participate.

“Most of us [working in the dining hall] do two, three jobs,” she explained. “Give us a bonus when the year ends to help us out.”

Reed noted that some departments are more flexible than others in allowing their workers to pursue these programs.

“I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m lucky to be from a place where we’re supported in most anything that we do if they can see that there’s a benefit to the department,” she said.

But she added, “You certainly have enough notice to plan for [the programs].” Reed explained that the details of offered classes are made available in the beginning of each semester and the classes themselves are relatively short.

“We’re talking four hours at a time,” she explained. “So I would presume that if it was beneficial and you wanted to do it, you could work it out one way or the other.”

Imbrenda explained that there are options available for workers who do not have time for classes. Human resources, for instance, occasionally holds one-hour information sessions on a broad range of topics relating to the curriculum, such as effective online communication and vacancy management.

“They’re very informal sessions, and it’s more question-and-answer than having to sit down for a three- or four-hour-long class,” she said.

Raising quality of life

In addition to providing infrastructural support to employees seeking advancement, the University also helps workers improve their quality of life with the resources they already possess.

In November 2006, the University updated a mortgage program for employees so that workers, regardless of place of residence, could receive a below-market mortgage rate through the University, Cliatt said. Before then, the program was restricted to low- to moderate-income employees residing in the tri-state area.

The program also provides information for first-time homebuyers on how to “avoid common pitfalls so that they feel more confident about going out into the market,” Cliatt explained.

Backup Care Options and the Carebridge program also address University employees’ quality of life. The Backup Care program subsidizes emergency care for children and disabled relatives of staff so that the workers only need to pay $4 an hour for the services. Carebridge provides counseling support to workers struggling with work-life balance issues.

The University has also introduced incentive for workers to maintain good work habits. For example, an attendance incentive program for Dining Services workers awards additional days off to employees with “outstanding attendance,” Cliatt explained.

The retail food service worker currently pursuing a culinary degree said that these quality-of-life programs play a pivotal role in his life.

“[They are] why I’m staying,” he said.

— Jack Ackerman contributed reporting to this article.