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THE LEARNING CENTER
P o l a ro i d re - t r a i n i n g
Front row: Dick Graff, Peter Gatti, Donovan English, Dennis Maher, Brian Quinn 2nd row: Dave MacDonald, Steve Hobbs, John Figliolini, Paul Levesque, Joe Bayles 3rd row: Phil MacDonald, Al Doane, Gerry Urquhart,Rob Fraser, Cat Smith, George Cairns Back row: Rick Elmer of BMS, Don Berry, Bob Ottaviano, George Sealey, Mark Knowles
Finding The Next Job Polaroid’s Chemical Operation Solution WRITTEN BY PENNY LOCEY
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y Polaroid moving further into the digital and consumer electronics markets this meant that the Chemical Operations plant in Waltham would be closing, the Learning Center, Human Resources (HR) and line leadership responded. Unlike traditional outplacement programs which begin after employees leave, Polaroid implemented several creative ideas to assist employees in preparing for their future, prior to leaving. Having time to consider their career options, understand their skills and financial situation, and getting skilled in conducting their job search effectively, helped employees and their managers begin to adjust to the impending change. However, an important theme emerged in these sessions: many people wanted to get hired into one of Massachusetts’ main growth industries – biotechnology – and were blocked because it is difficult to enter from the outside due to specialized requirements.
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Bill Allen, Process Engineering Manager from Chemical Operations, who had been working hard to find ways to get his people into jobs, had a breakthrough in a casual conversation with a member of the ISPE (International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering). He heard that industry professionals were complaining about the lack of manufacturing experience in the new graduates they were hiring. “It was such a great opportunity to provide our operators a smooth transition into the biotech field using what seemed to us to be very transferable skills, we had to pursue it,” Allen said. Seizing the potential opportunity, Allen turned to the Learning Center who teamed with Joe Labenski, Plant Director, and Polaroid’s HR team to quickly assess the skills resident in the plant, and scope the needs and research existing programs. A timeline was created to help retrain the employees using innovative programs, which aided in finding resources,