Should company be paying for Journeyman license fees, continuing ed, etc?

[JoeNorm]

Just curious if there is a standard in the industry for this?

Thanks

 

[Cow]

We are a shop of around 30-35 electricians.

We all pay our own licensing and continuing ed fees. I consider it a small price to pay for the wages we make.

 

[texie]

Just curious if there is a standard in the industry for this?

Thanks

I know of many ECs that do this as a perk. But one has to be real careful that it actually gets done as a journeyman license is a personal license and the license holders responsibility. I can't tell you how many I've seen that expire and the excuse is "my employer was supposed to take care of this". This is not a valid excuse and in some states/jurisdictions this can be a very painful lesson.

 

[jmellc]

I've always paid my own. If the company offered the benefit, that would be great and I would take them up on it. But I don't demand it from them. When I had a shop, I could not have afforded such benefits for anyone. Every company has to decide what works for them.

 

[petersonra]

Just curious if there is a standard in the industry for this?

Thanks

I don't know if there is any standard for such things. Some places do and some don't. If it is a union shop you might want to see if the contract says anything about it.

Personally, I think if the employer requires you to do something, like hold a license, the employer should cover the cost of renewals and continuing ed.

 

[cdslotz]

Our office would have guest inspectors or instructors come to the office and give CEU classes for anyone who wants to attend. Our Journeymen, estimators, PM's, owner would all attend.
There would be 20 or 30 personnel attend, have pizza or sandwiches, go through the required lesson hours, and we would be given our renewal certificate and pay our own renewals.
Boss would pay for the classes and pizza

 

[ptonsparky]

I pay for CE and license renewals, but I’m a small shop.

 

[jim dungar]

I pay for CE and license renewals, but I’m a small shop.

Do you pay for them directly or reimburse the employee for them?

 

[ptonsparky]

Do you pay for them directly or reimburse the employee for them?

Pay directly. No one has ever asked if I would pay for one they took on their own. They get paid hours if the class is during the week, not for a Saturday class.

 

[jmellc]

I've always paid my own. If the company offered the benefit, that would be great and I would take them up on it. But I don't demand it from them. When I had a shop, I could not have afforded such benefits for anyone. Every company has to decide what works for them.

BTW, I forgot to mention that I do get a small salary add on for having my license. It more than covers the cost of classes and license fees. I push all my coworkers to try for their licenses. Some are studying for it and some don't seem interested. A few seem scared of the process.

 

[tkb]

Our company pays license renewals for licenses in states other than the one you live in.
They make arrangements for CE classes and pay for them. If you don’t take their classes, you have to make your own arrangements and pay yourself.