Professional Development Policy

BACKGROUND

In today’s competitive global environment, organizations need to support employees on the quest to acquire new skills and replenish their knowledge in order to do their jobs better. This generally has a long term benefit to both the employee and the organization. At Kotn, as we encourage team members to Pursue Excellence as one of our values, we want you to feel confident about improving your personal efficiency and professional productivity, as well as finding new avenues to enhance development on your path to success. Kotn is committed to investing in employees’ professional development in order to enhance engagement,  build team members’ capacity and support the effective delivery of functional on-the-job performance by our team members. 

The People Operations team is committed to supporting team members, and managers to build a continuous learning culture at Kotn. We all have a part to play, just as it is an employee’s responsibility to seek new learning opportunities, it is a manager’s responsibility to coach their teams and identify employee development needs, and it is the People Operations team’s responsibility to facilitate all team learning & development activities and processes.

It is to this end that we would like to introduce our Professional Development Policy, which is focused on providing Kotn team members with an annual stipend to undertake professional development activities, such as workshops, conferences, seminars, and external training programs in areas related or relevant to their functional roles. 

The objective of this Professional Development Policy is to support training and development activities for employees, both inside and outside of their regular duties. This policy does not apply to mandatory training which may be deemed required by Kotn.

SCOPE

This policy applies to all employees at Kotn full-time employees at Kotn. It excludes all part-time, casual and temporary workers, volunteers and co-op placements.

POLICY ELEMENTS

Eligibility:

The following conditions must apply in order for Kotn team members to be eligible for training or professional development:

• Must be a full-time employee of Kotn, and have been employed for at least 6 months.

• The training or course is to be directly related to the employee’s current position, in order to improve job performance and productivity or in consultation with management or the training must be deemed necessary for future roles;

• Desired training and/or courses (long term and short term) must be discussed and approved by the employee’s manager via email.

Kotn’s Professional Development Policy Elements:

Within each financial year, Kotn shall provide non-transferable or bankable training support in the form of a financial component and an operational component to team members who wish to undertake training and professional development activities within the financial year. 

The financial component shall be: an annual reimbursement of up to CAD $150 to each team member for any successfully executed training or professional development activity; while the operational component shall be the granting of time-off with pay - up to a maximum of 5 days within one financial year, to participate in training and development and short term courses. These training and professional development activities may include, but are not strictly limited to:

• Short term professional development or training courses;

• Seminars and conferences;

• Examinations & Functional Accreditation;

• Formal training sessions (individual or corporate)

• On-the-job training

• Long term training and development that results in a degree, license or credential.

Training or professional development must be provided from accredited institutions - these are standardized institutions regularly accredited for the provision of education or work-related professional courses and knowledge. These may be physical or virtual institutions.

Both components of this policy are non-refundable, non-transferable and non-bankable, they can also not be carried over from one year to the next. 

Responsibilities of Parties

Management: It will be the responsibility of Kotn’s Management Team (Managers & Department Heads) to create and foster an environment that facilitates and enhances the skills training, resource sharing and career development of employees by:

• Reviewing future needs and examining the need for employee development initiatives

• Providing job-specific training as required

• Identifying succession planning candidates and working with staff to determine potential opportunities for training and development

• Informing staff of upcoming training and development opportunities, as well as reviewing and approving requests for training and development

• Evaluating the outcomes or success of training efforts, maintaining records for reference and better improvement opportunities

• Making decisions on who can participate in training and/or courses when there are requests by multiple staff, for operational reasons 

Team Members: Team members will be expected to take the primary responsibility for managing their professional development by:

• Reviewing current skill sets, training and development needs for maintaining current knowledge and meeting the needs for advancement within their current department 

• Determining logical and appropriate avenues for training and development, and applying/requesting training and development as needed

• Recommending possible training and development opportunities as appropriate

People Operations: The People Operations team will help to facilitate the execution of this policy by:

• Engaging in conversation, reviewing development options and aligning same to development plans for team members

• Reviewing and approving professional development reimbursement requests

• Recommending possible training and development opportunities as appropriate for team members’ current and future roles

• Determining logical and appropriate avenues for training and development, and highlighting as needed.

Process for Execution

Team members who would like to undertake a training or professional development activity must be doing so with the intention to enhance their skills/knowledge in order to make a continuing contribution to Kotn. The approved process to be executed will be as follows: 

1. Employees, team leads or the People Operations team identify the need for training, based on performance feedback or the outcome of any development plans

2. Team members will send an email to their manager with details of the professional development request. The email request should highlight: 

1. The proposed course - title and any other relevant information (a course brochure or overview can be attached to the email)

2. Rationale for the course  or how this benefits the team member either in their current or future role

3. Length or duration of the course, 

4. Time to complete

5. The institution or organization facilitating the course and whether this will be an in-person or virtual course

6. Any time constraints or work restructuring requirements in order to undertake the course

7. Additional skills and knowledge which will be gained through the course and how it will impact the team and Kotn as an organization

3. The manager will review this information and respond to the email with an approval or a decline  - indicating that the team member is approved to undertake the professional development activity or otherwise respectively.

4. The team member may proceed on the course/ activity.

5. The team member fills out a request for reimbursement using the AP submission link - attaching the following documents:

   1. Their Manager’s email approval (email thread including course description)

   2. Proof of payment for the professional development activity.

   3. Proof of successful completion of the course.

6. The appropriate approver for the expense is the Director of People Operations, in order to maintain accurate records and support further employee development action.

7. Finance processes and pays out the stipend reimbursement to the relevant team member.

Policy Definitions

• Training Support: refers to registration fees and other associated costs for training courses, seminars or workshops in support of work-related goals. This includes Tuition Reimbursement Support up to the stipulated amount in this Policy document. 

• Courses: those courses that are relevant to the employee’s current role within Kotn or enhance the employee’s opportunities for future advancement within the company.

Policy Exclusions

• This Policy does not provide coverage for any travel-related costs associated with training or professional development at this time. It is expected that team members utilize various resources local to their jurisdiction to address / fulfill training and professional development needs. 

• Where a specific need involving travel (for a seminar or conference, etc) is identified by the business, team members may be accommodated through the Kotn’s existing Travel Expense Policy.  

• This policy does not cover supplementary employees like contractors or consultants. 

• The annual stipend is a fixed amount per team member and is not transferable to another team member.

• The annual stipend is available per year and cannot be rolled over to another year.

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