Training

Expertise is the key to the present and the future, for people as well as companies. It's the most effective tool for dealing with those inevitable surprises that today's world holds in store for us. It also generates confidence, security and motivation. This is why ELCA stresses the acquisition and sharing of know-how. Fifteen percent of ELCA's annual revenue is spent on continuing education and R&D.

Our Approach to Training

In an original approach, we have focussed our training strategy on three areas, which ensure an employee's education as a person, as a member of the ELCA staff, and as a domain expert. ELCA's training strategy is therefore three-fold:

Personal Development

The focus of personal development is analogous and complementary to the education received at home and in school with a long-term perspective. Its purpose is to enrich personal skills, improve personal conduct, and provide the means to confront difficult situations. This is mainly achieved through external courses and includes subjects such as management, communication skills, negotiation or auditing techniques, as well as foreign languages.

Corporate Skills and Culture

Both medium- and long-term, its aim is the employee's smooth integration within the company. Basically informal, it also comprises in-house and occasionally external courses and seminars. This training draws upon the company's acquired expertise in the areas of project management, quality control, consulting methods and in the drafting of tenders. It also communicates the company's culture and values.

Technical Know-how

Training on Information Technology (IT) products (specific data bases, development tools, etc.), but also on the fundamental concepts of IT (object modelling, distributed systems, communication systems, etc.). Unlike product training, fundamental IT concepts training can be followed at any time. It contributes to the employee's general IT culture and takes the form of external courses, reading or visiting trade fairs, and participation in professional seminars.

TYPES OF COURSES

External Courses

Due to our pro-active policy for in-depth training, we work with top-notch external professionals to design courses tailored to our objectives and the high qualifications of our employees. Relatively condensed, these courses focus on the acquisition of genuine expertise rather than a more encyclopaedic approach, thus contributing to the company's positive development. If appropriate, we also use standard courses offered by specialized institutes.

In-house Courses

We have developed our own procedures and methodologies successfully and these have helped us become a driving force in Switzerland's IT industry. This savoir-faire is shared in courses given by our own employees.

In-house Seminars

One of our most effective means of communication, in-house seminars, give all interested ELCA personnel access to presentations of projects, products, and/or concepts that are currently being addressed at ELCA. Comprising both presentation and discussion, they are held at the end of the day, and last between one and one and a half hours. They are chosen to present an experience that has been beneficial for the company. The details of each seminar are distributed via e-mail to all employees. Participation is optional, and attendance is only limited by the size of the room in which the seminar is held. These seminars are also open to interested customers.

Informal Training

ELCA offers its employees an environment that is particularly conducive to the sharing of know-how. Based on skills acquired by ELCA, mutual confidence, staff flexibility and team rotation, we give everyone the opportunity to get ahead. In particular, we provide for the rapid training of technical project managers, customer project managers, quality agents, course instructors and proposal writers by giving them every opportunity to exercise their skills at a very early stage. A project manager benefits not only from the advice of his group manager but also from that of a more experienced project manager who might be a member of his team (a project manager is not necessarily the manager of the next project). This has at least three advantages: training new project managers; flexibility (it is easier to free a team member to take on a new project than the project manager); and refreshing one's ideas.

RESOURCES

The Library

Every employee may ask for certain books to be purchased and so contribute to keeping ELCA's library up-to-date.

Expertise Centers

Playing a vital role in the acquisition of savoir-faire, these centers ensure that ELCA remains at the cutting edge of technology. Their other major objective is the sharing of internally acquired expertise through tools put in place by ELCA or through special activities.

Training Committee

An integral part of ELCA's corporate strategy, training activities are proposed by the Training Committee on the basis of an annual master plan. They can also arise from the needs of various projects or services, or from the annual review meetings the company holds with each employee.

Together with all Business Line Managers of the company, this steering group establishes the annual master plan and proposes training activities, as well as organizing and following all the activities related to the courses. The Committee works within budgets allocated by the management and makes recommendations for informal training, in-house courses and seminars, and external courses. It is also responsible for making a selection of general-purpose and trade press newspapers and magazines for the company's subscriptions, which are made available to all employees through the library. After analyzing the suitability of the activities proposed by the committee, management decides whether to accept them or not.