UW-Green Bay Tackles Corporate Training
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 15, 2024
Regional business survey, recent corporate partnerships reveal growing need for accessible employee training and skill development
Green Bay, Wis.—UW-Green Bay’s 2024 Continuing Education and Workforce Training Business Survey revealed that human resource managers in Northeast Wisconsin face significant challenges in assessing their employee training needs, securing leadership buy-in to address specific gaps and finding cost-effective employee training programs. Those findings from the second annual survey, together with recent corporate training partnerships, have led the University to expand its customized training solutions in an effort to tackle the region’s growing needs.
“The velocity and scale of workforce training and retraining needs are a challenge for small and large employers alike, and the needs keep growing,” said UW-Green Bay Chancellor Michael Alexander. “There’s no doubt that rapid technological advances, automation and AI are all contributing to this evolution in the workplace and the skills employers and employees need to be successful. Our role as a regional comprehensive university includes partnering with employers to navigate the change and deliver the education and training their employees need.”
Professional development and training initiatives not only upskill, reskill and new-skill the regional workforce, they also significantly contribute to worker retention and new economic development throughout the Northeast Wisconsin business community.
“Employees who feel valued and invested in by their employers are less likely to leave, so supporting them is just good business,” said Jess Lambrecht, executive officer for Continuing Education and Workforce Training at UW-Green Bay. Lambrecht points to recent successful partnerships with major Northeast Wisconsin employers such as Kohler, Prevea, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services and Festival Foods as examples of the impact of customized training on the economic development in our region.
UW-Green Bay is the second-largest provider of continuing education and workforce training in the state, serving one-third of the states continuing education needs. In the last year alone, the university trained 85,883 learners through the Division of Continuing Education and Workforce Training (CEWT.)
Lambrecht also notes a current collaboration with the Wisconsin Association of School Business Officials (WASBO) as an example of how varied and customized partnerships can be. WASBO approached UW-Green Bay seeking course offerings for WASBO University. UW-Green Bay is working with WASBO, the professional association for those employed in Wisconsin school districts and other educational institutions who serve on the business side of school operations, to create a catalog of courses and certificates tailored to the unique needs of Wisconsin school business office and facilities professionals. The courses will be available online to every school in the state, no matter the size or location of the district. To date, offerings have included Introduction to Accounting, Internal Controls for the School Business Office, School District Finance for the Facility Director and more.
“Our survey and what we’re hearing from companies and organizations is that the gaps for training and retraining exist in all areas, including customer service, project management, engaging virtual meetings, accounting and more,” Lambrecht said.
To learn more about UW-Green Bay’s corporate training solutions for skills development, leadership training and more, please visit the Customized Training Solutions web site or contact Jess Lambrecht at lambreje@uwgb.edu or (920) 465-2222.
About UW-Green Bay
The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay is a school of resilient problem solvers who dare to reach higher with the power of education that ignites growth and answers the biggest challenges. Serving 10,300 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students as well as 85,883 continuing education learners annually, UW-Green Bay offers 200 academic degrees, programs, and certificates. With four campus locations in Northeast Wisconsin, the University’s access mission welcomes all students who want to learn, from every corner of the world. Championing bold thinking since opening its doors in 1965, it is a university on the rise – Wisconsin’s fastest-growing UW. For more information, visit www.uwgb.edu.
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