Awards: Nominations open for Business Awards and Hall of Fame

Nominations open for Business Awards and Hall of Fame

BEGINNING OCT. 4, Business Report will accept entries or nominations for its 2023 Business Awards & Hall of Fame. We’re looking for successful entrepreneurs, executives and companies to recognize, as well as longtime business professionals in the Capital Region for the Hall of Fame.

The awards pay tribute to individuals and companies, recognizing their many accomplishments. Categories include Businessperson of the Year, Young Businessperson of the Year, and two Company of the Year awards (one for those with 100 or more employees, and another for those with fewer than 100 employees). The Hall of Fame recognizes a lifetime of achievement.

This year’s honorees will be profiled in the March edition of Business Report and recognized at a special event March 14 at the Crowne Plaza.

All entries and nominations must be submitted online no later than 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4. No exceptions to the deadline will be made. Previous recognition for the Business Awards does not prohibit someone from being recognized again. Get the nomination form and see a list of previous honorees at businessreport.com.

2022 Hall of Fame inductees

Gerry Lane James “Pepper” Rutland

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Fast track to a skilled workforce:

How to access deep technical training for free

Proper training is the core of building a reputable brand. No matter their skill levels, all technicians should arrive at jobs prepared to give the customer helpful insights into the work being performed. A common barrier to comprehensive service is that the techs may be too green, or they don’t completely understand why they do what they do.

Today, on-demand immersive training programs for trades professionals are available to help ensure that even your newest technicians build great foundational skills and even the most seasoned can continue to learn and advance in their trade.

The East Baton Rouge Parish Library has partnered with Interplay Learning to offer, at no cost to patron, SkillMill for all-things maintenance training in HVAC, plumbing, electrical and appliance repair.

SkillMill is the world’s leading, always-on immersive learning solution for the skilled trades, delivering a growing catalog of courses and a comprehensive suite of measurement and engagement tools for skilled trades businesses, educators, and workforce development programs.

By providing your techs with ongoing inhouse training opportunities, they will become proficient in basic to advanced jobs, tackle more calls confidently and, are ready to perform tasks to your customer’s satisfaction. Make training efficient, relevant, and scalable while saving you time and effort. With access to 300+ hours of content and hands-on 3D simulations, SkillMill is like having another expert on your team.

What’s in it for business leaders? With a deep, technical understanding of their craft, you will not be needed to intervene as frequently to remediate issues on service calls. This frees up your time for more important management tasks. Plus, you will experience greater cost savings from error reduction and decreased callbacks. SkillMill has other benefits like: • Reduces training costs and ramp-up times. • Enables you to rapidly advance the abilities of your entire team—no matter their

starting level. • Scales easily so you can provide effective upskilling to as many people as possible. • Delivers expert-led content on HVAC,

Solar, Plumbing, Electrical, Multi-Family and Facilities Maintenance. • Helps increase in-the-field performance and customer satisfaction with unlimited practice in a no-fail environment. • Gives you the tools to assess your teams’ skills and abilities. • Provides analytics and insights into team members’ usage and progress. • Frees up your time to focus on employee development so you can retain a top crew of technicians.

Take your new technicians from green techs to field techs with field-like 3D and VR simulations that allow them to hone their skills in a no-risk environment. Visit ebrpl.com/skillmill to request a free SkillMill account or call the Reference Desk at the Main Library at 225-231-3750.