By Jodie Rasmussen
Several employees from a medium sized local business called recently to sign up for continuing education classes. Some of the classes were ones that businesses typically send their employees to like Excel and welding, 
but when they started signing up for pottery, meditation and container gardening I was surprised when the business owner came on the phone and paid for all the classes. I wanted to make sure that the owner knew what classes he was paying for, so I repeated them, he laughed and said those were great classes. Intrigued, we chatted some more and he shared his philosophy on why he paid for the classes. He said "I often request that employees take a work related class if they need help in a certain area, but it's okay if they want to take a class for fun because what's important is their willingness to learn." He said his best employees are lifelong learners, they were the ones who embraced change, who had a bigger picture view and were the best problem solvers. Ironically, even the classes that weren't work related had a way of creeping back in to benefit his business. Employees who took art classes understood color theory and set up more eye catching displays, exercise classes made his employees more healthy and miss less work.
Missoula is blessed with many talented instructors that want to give back to the community and since The Lifelong Learning Center is part of Missoula County Public Schools, the classes are very affordable. In these troubling economic times we are seeing an increase in Employer Sponsored Training… it is heartening to see employers investing in their workforce.
