As a business owner, you work hard to establish your product, service and reputation. Insurance is a vehicle to insulate your company against unforeseen catastrophic events. To view insurance as a risk management tool as opposed to a compliance driven necessity can be the difference between creating a safe environment for your business to grow and creating an unintended threat that could be fatal to your business. This column will explore the difference between Commercial General Liability and Professional Liability that many service businesses inherently possess.

Approximately two years ago, SEH America formed an internship program that offers high school students the opportunity to see how the things they learn at school, such as math and science, apply to the real world. The third set of students are poised to start their hands-on adventure later this month, and SEH America, high school career counselors and the students themselves consider the program a resounding success.

“This program is a tremendous opportunity for students to come in, take a look, and get some experience,” said Kim Berhow, a career specialist at Evergreen High School.

One of the students Berhow works with, Valeriy Gershun, completed an internship at SEH in December.

“It’s a great experience that boosts your knowledge and helps you figure out what you want to do,” said Gershun.

Ben Bagherpour, vice president of operations at SEH America, considers programs such as SEH's an important part of the education process.

“Kids learn more effectively when it’s hands-on,” said Bagherpour. “They learn and connect learning to real life and work.”

He also said that the internship program has a ripple effect, where interns talk to other students and generate interest in how math and science are relevant.

Soft skills, too, said Bagherpour, are important – such as critical thinking, problem solving and working as a responsible member of a team. These skills, he said, are not sufficiently taught in our schools, and pose a threat to competitiveness.

“For businesses to expand, we need more educated kids coming out of K-12 that already know math and science, and that have the necessary soft skills, so we can compete and create more jobs,” he explained.

Natalie Pacholl, training program specialist at SEH, said the silicon wafer manufacturer is currently interviewing a total of 15 applicants from Evergreen’s four high schools. The available positions, she said, include projects in information services, engineering, quality assurance, chemistry and facilities.

Stephanie Yong, a junior at Mountain View High School, has applied for one of these positions.

“I’m nervous, but excited,” said Yong. “It’s my first time out in the real world.”

Yong said she enjoys “seeing how stuff works” – evidenced by her success in starting a robotics club this past fall – and “gathering results to interpret what happened.”

Program applicants such as Yong submit a resume, cover letter and a teacher’s recommendation, and complete a personal interview. During the internship, students work 90 hours over a three-month period and receive academic credit for their work. Pacholl said that typical projects include building PCs, developing test plans and collecting and analyzing data for workflow and process improvement.

“The response from participants has been very positive.” said Pacholl. “We’d like to continue with ten to 12 interns per semester.”

“Up to date, we are very impressed with the interns Evergreen School District has been able to place in our program,” said Michael Grossman, who has mentored a number of interns in SEH's information services department. “They fit in very quickly, improve our department projects and bring that youthful energy we all enjoy.”

Bagherpour, who serves on the local High Tech Council, said several other companies have expressed interest in starting an internship program.

 “Any company – high tech or not – whose workforce includes high school graduates needs to consider an internship program,” said Bagherpour. Not only does it help students, but Bagherpour said it also builds name recognition for the company among the students and school staff. SEH has already hired a couple of former interns, who, said Bagherpour, require less money and effort for retraining. The goal, he said, is to create a workforce that is “ready to go to work immediately.”

Bagherpour said that an important component of SEH's internship program has been developing a close relationship with teachers and career counselors, and he encourages other companies to do the same.

“Bring teachers to your company and show them what you need,” Bagherpour advised. The construction industry and a precision machining firm, for instance, require different skill sets than SEH. “Work with school districts to make those connections and close those gaps,” said Bagherpour. For example, SEH and the Evergreen School District are partnering to create a materials science class (see sidebar on page 5).

As successful as it’s been, Bagherpour said SEH's internship program was merely a “drop in the ocean.”

“We need thousands of similar activities,” said Bagherpour. He also stressed that “merely pointing fingers in Washington, D.C.” isn’t going to fix the American education system, which he said was plagued with a high dropout rate.

“We need direct and comprehensive involvement from parents, the school system, local and state government and private industry,” said Bagherpour. “For us to change the system, we need all parties to actively participate and work together.”

At last! Economic light is beaming at the end of the long recession tunnel. Washington’s unemployment rate is at its lowest point since February 2009, and better news appears daily in headlines. Businesses are once again developing strategies for growth.

The Port of Vancouver’s West Vancouver Freight Access Project is expected to create more than 1,000 new, permanent jobs within five years. Building the project will generate an anticipated 4,000 construction jobs.

Fisher Investment welcomed 400 employees to their new $30 million building last December. In east Clark County, leaders are exploring options for developing 40 waterfront acres formerly occupied by the Hambleton sawmill. And Insitu Inc. and SEH America both announced expansion plans.

In January, Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire outlined plans that include reforms to free up cash for small businesses to help them grow.

“It’s small businesses that employ the vast majority of our workers,” the Governor said in a press release last month. “In fact, 95 percent of Washington employers have fewer than 50 workers. If we can make it easier and cheaper for them to do business, they can afford to add more employees.”

Big questions

As these long-awaited new jobs phase in, business owners and managers face some big questions:

• What will our employees need to know, understand and be able to do to execute our company’s plans? What training will be needed to prepare them? 

• When our most seasoned employees retire, what knowledge and skills will we lose that we absolutely have to have? Do we have a process in place to capture that?

• Within our organization, which employees do we wish we could clone? What if we could find a systematic way to replicate their methods?

• Is someone in our company slated to take on a new role? Maybe move into a supervisory or management position? They may be technically awesome, but are they prepared to lead teams or manage business activities? What training do they need to successfully navigate the new role?

• What elements of our company’s culture do new hires need to embrace in
order to extend our brand promise to customers? Is our on-boarding plan organized
to cover that? Do we have an onboarding plan? Getting
new employees up to speed swiftly is cost-effective, boosts morale and aids in retention. Are we ready?

Training manager’s job

In a large corporation, managers would take up these questions with the training department. A training manager’s job is to understand the client’s business objectives, discover exactly what business result they are seeking and what numbers they track. Then the training manager finds efficient, effective ways to deliver targeted new knowledge or skills to the people involved, designing a way to measure results.

For smaller companies that can’t afford a full-time in-house training manager, third-party options like The Training Department exist.These companies work with small businesses that lack
in-house training managers in order to strengthen business through learning. All the services of a large corporate training department are typically offered, but at far
less of an expense.

One last thought

Business owners and managers are often stopped short by the statement, “The only way you're going to create what you really want is by visualizing the outcome that you're trying to achieve.” Most people believe learning is good, but it’s not effective if it isn’t aligned with the company’s strategic plan.

Susan Edwards is the owner of The Training Department. She can be reached at 360.852.4142.