Sharon Hanks
Grand Rapids Community College has partnered with Farmers Insurance Group to help with the coordination and training of almost 1,600 new workers the insurance company will need over the next four or five years to staff its growing Caledonia Township site.
The $5 million three-year investment in new-jobs training was approved by GRCC trustees last month. Farmers Spokeswoman Renee Kolzow says the first wave of hiring will begin in the first quarter of 2011 after the positions are posted on the company's website. The new jobs will offer a minimum annual salary around $26,500 with benefits, Kolzow says, adding that pay could be higher based on the position and the applicant's education and experience.
Most jobs will be call center positions to staff two new buildings under construction in Caledonia Township, a reported $84.4 million investment totaling more than 364,000 square feet.
Once candidates are selected, the new employees will be on Farmers' payroll while attending classes customized for their positions. While details are still in the development stages, many courses will be in such areas as customer service, safety, quality, supervision or computer software programs, according to Eric Williams, GRCC's executive director of economic development.
"The college's goal is to promote economic development from a learning perspective and increase the skills of the workforce," says Williams, adding most classes will be taught by staff from Farmers or GRCC while other experts will be brought on board as needed.
At no cost to Farmers Insurance or to its new employees, the training is possible through the Michigan New Jobs Training Program signed into law a little more than a year ago, one of the latest state incentives to upgrade workforce skills to meet the more sophisticated needs of companies. The new jobs that must pay a minimum hourly rate of $12.95.
Under the program, companies work with any of the state's 28 community colleges to design and operate the training program specifically designed to meet their needs. Companies advance colleges the required funds to get the program going and are reimbursed later through the new employees' state income taxes, a diversion that needs to be approved by the Michigan Department of Treasury, Williams says.
"We think it's more employer friendly than those (programs) in years past," he says, adding Michigan's program is based on one successfully operating in Iowa.
The partnership is the fifth training program -- but the first in Kent County -- that GRCC has customized for West Michigan companies this year, making it Michigan's leading community college for putting together new job training agreements, Williams says. Four other partnerships have been forged with companies in Ottawa County: Energetx Composites LLC, Johnson Controls-SAFT, Inc., Haworth, Inc. and Trans-Matic Manufacturing.
Sources: Eric Williams, executive director of economic development for Grand Rapids Community College; Rene Kozlow, public relations manager for Farmers Insurance Group, Caledonia
Sharon Hanks is innovations and jobs news editor at Rapid Growth Media. Please send story ideas and comments for the column to Sharon at [email protected]. She also is owner of The Write Words in Grand Rapids.
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