“We view ourselves as a ‘learning organization,’ with a commitment to skills development for our staff. The LiLA program was the perfect match at the perfect point in time. LiLAs offer us an opportunity to reward employees who have been with us, to help with retention. We loved the idea of adding LiLAs to our employee benefits. It makes for a very full benefits package.”
Kim Meredith, COO of Planned Parenthood Golden Gate
Results of the First LiLA Pilot Program
Employees Invest in Their Education and Training. Participants saved $215,455, an average of $600.15 per person. By the end of the project, a total of 52% of participants across all sites had used their LiLA for at least one course. The average participant that has used his or her account has taken between four and five courses.
LiLAs Motivate Employees to Get Education and Training. Approximately half of all LiLA participants in restaurant, manufacturing and healthcare sectors (44-58%, depending on the sector) had not been planning to enroll in training prior to the start of the LiLA program. And in fact, on average, participants in all sectors rated the LiLA program between “very influential and “somewhat influential” in encouraging their decision to enroll in classes.
LiLAs Impact Worker Productivity. Fifty-three percent of LiLA employers in the pilot saw at least modest evidence of increased productivity among their LiLA employees. Two-thirds of restaurant employers and 60% of those in the public sector and manufacturing saw at least “a little evidence” of improved productivity.
Employees Use LiLAs for Training That Benefits Their Current Employer. CAEL records show that seventy percent (70%) of all participants, across all sites, are using the LiLA for goals related to their current job, a promotion with the same employer, or related work with the same employer or in the same industry. This finding shows that, more often than not, employees will choose courses of study that benefit their employer in some way.
Employee Satisfaction. LiLA participants are very satisfied with the program and consider it quite close to the ideal program. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being very satisfied and 1 being not satisfied, 89% of participants gave LiLAs a rating of 7 or higher. When asked how LiLAs compared to an “ideal program”, 89% of participants also gave LiLAs a rating of 7 or higher.
Employer Satisfaction. Most employers – 89% -- are satisfied with their participation in the LiLA program and five are exploring options to maintain a LiLA-like program after the Demonstration ends.
Career Advising Is Important to Participants. Between 46% and 54% of the survey respondents in each industry sector said that if career advising had not been offered through the LiLA program, they would have been willing to pay for the service, and most rated the advisors as “very” or “somewhat” helpful.
“We see LiLAs as a wonderful opportunity to recognize and reward our incumbent workers, while filling our own workforce needs at the same time. We truly believe from previous on-site training experience that if workers invest their own money in education, they are ten times more likely to follow through and be serious about completing their education. And that’s worth investing in as an employer.”
Jennifer Hermann, Director of Human Resources, UCSF Medical Center
Note: The above statistics include data from the original LiLA pilot in Chicago, Northeast Indiana and San Francisco.