The University of Oregon provides a variety of training for all employees and encourages supervisors to allow staff to attend training and participate in professional developmental opportunities. Allowing employees to participate in these types of opportunities can lead to:

• Increased job satisfaction
• Provide employees with necessary resources to perform more effectively in the position
• Provide employees with skills to perform other roles in the unit when necessary
• Provide employees with networking opportunities to connect with colleagues and learn how other departments perform similar functions

Registering for and Attending Opportunities

Participating in training and professional development opportunities is a coordinated effort between a supervisor and employee. Considerations and guidance for both are provided below:

Supervisors

Approval for training opportunities is subject to the operational needs of your unit; however, in assessing operational need, you should also weigh the benefit to the unit and the employee related to the training and consider whether there are creative solutions that may offset any negative impacts on your day-to- day operations.   Please contact Employee and Labor Relations to discuss what solutions might work for your particular situation. Some examples might include allowing a one-time modification to an employee’s work schedule or asking other staff to provide coverage while another employee is in training.

If you do deny a request to attend training, please offer a reasons why. Offering an explanation for your denial, avoids leaving the employee feeling like he or she has no idea why they have not been allowed to attend the requested training and provides them with feedback for future requests.

Employees

Try to highlight how the training you would like to attend will benefit your department, not just yourself. If you’ve received constructive feedback from your supervisor, and the requested training may assist with addressing this feedback, try to include that as well. The more that your supervisor can understand how you and the unit will benefit from attending this training, the more likely your supervisor is to approve your request. The Professional Development Request template will help you provide the information needed to evaluate the training request.

While training is incredibly valuable, please understand that the timing of the training may not be ideal for the day-to-day operation of the department, which should come first. Units that are short-staffed that will be impacted greatly by your absence may not be able to approve training requests. Understand that a “no” may be more of a “not at this time.” Respectfully ask your supervisor for clarification if you do not understand why your training request has been denied and note that, while you may not agree with the decision, the decision ultimately rests with your supervisor.