Customer & Community

Training & Professional Development

As the company faces many new and emerging challenges, it is more critical than ever to ensure that our workforce is up-to-date with the skills, knowledge, and capabilities to work safely, with operational excellence, and in a manner than ensures customer satisfaction. To achieve this goal, we provide continuous state-of-the-art training and development to our employees in a wide variety of areas.

Through the Learning Center (TLC), the company offers robust training programs in gas, electric, and steam operations. The training ensures employees’ skills, knowledge, and performance are maintained at the highest levels. We are focused on preparing our employees to work effectively, efficiently, safely, and in a way that is compliant with vast numbers of policies, procedures, and regulatory expectations. To that end, TLC fosters a work culture of safety and operational excellence, by making improvements to our learning experiences. For example, our new initiative, which we call Purposeful Field Visits, uses real-life events as focal points for field visits to assess potential gaps or requirements in related training. When out in the field conducting field visits, TLC staff is also able to talk with workers about ideas on safety improvements. In addition, we partnered with Gas Operations and others to establish a computer testing lab that is compliant with the Northeast Gas Association and regulatory requirements. 

Our training is helping to support the company’s three priorities. For example, we integrated Operational Excellence guiding principles on wallet cards and into our training curriculum, along with video segments on electronic screens. This initiative highlights the need to respect the complexity, power, and unforgiving nature of our energy systems, and encourages all to manage them safely. This effort includes a focus on Human Performance Improvement (HPI) tools and safety precursors. Also to support the company’s safety priority, we launched a defensive driving skills initiative to help reduce motor vehicle accidents. The program includes sharing driving safety messages on the monthly organizational safety call, a recently-introduced driving simulator, which reinforces defensive driving techniques, and a voluntary safe-driving pledge.

The use of technology in the learning process is becoming more and more significant in our training offerings. We created a digital learning strategy to transform curriculum, improve employee access to training, and enhance the employee experience. This multi-year capital project, integrating digital technologies into our training platforms, will allow us to train and develop highly competent employees who are prepared for the future needs of our customers. We are developing digital content, including e-books, technical training videos, micro learning, and virtual- and augmented-reality modules. More than 25 new digital learning tools will be added in 2019. 

At all leadership levels, we continue to pay significant attention to the development of employees who demonstrate high potential and high performance in the execution of their work duties. Guided by competencies that are tailored to the level of the leader, emerging leaders are provided with a broad array of training options that prepare them to meet current responsibilities and future challenges. Development efforts include more than 450 course offerings in leadership and professional development, career planning, performance management, and mini-workshops – all designed to improve the ability of managers to lead employees effectively, handle problems creatively, and lead teams to elevated performance. More than 10,000 employees attended these programs and more than 4,700 unique visitors used the Career Management Resource Center site. Employees also benefit from an array of tools, assessments and resources that assist with career counseling and development planning. We also restructured our executive mentoring program to introduce mentoring circles led by company executives who drive robust and meaningful discussions about many leadership challenges facing the company.    

The company’s training and development strategy fosters a highly engaged workforce that produces strong performance. It also supports a high retention environment where we get to keep our best employees. Similarly, it enhances the company’s reputation and profile, and therefore makes the company more attractive to potential new recruits.