GE Citizenship

Training & Development

GE’s heritage is built on continuous learning, which is why we invest more than $1 billion annually in training and education programs. Under the umbrella of GE Global Learning, the company offers three types of training to employees, Crotonville Leadership, Functional Skills and Business Knowledge.

Crotonville Leadership includes online learning and GE’s cornerstone leadership courses that are targeted to leaders at different points in their career — from individual contributors through senior executives. Functional Skills offer in-depth programs in finance, human resources, information technology, marketing, sales, operations and engineering. In the businesses, GE provides Business Knowledge courses, designed to enhance our employees’ business acumen and product and service knowledge.

GE opened its Corporate Leadership Institute in 1956, now known as the John F. Welch Leadership Development Center, in Ossining, New York, or as it is commonly known, Crotonville. For many years, Crotonville was the primary location for executive and leadership education. But as GE has grown in markets around the world, it has become necessary to expand our capabilities.

Today, GE offers training programs in geographic hubs around the world, including Crotonville, Shanghai, Munich, Bangalore and Abu Dhabi. By 2010, we plan to expand our reach to Eastern Europe and farther south to the Middle East and South Africa, and eventually to sub-Saharan Africa. About 200 classes are held each year in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). For Crotonville leadership classes conducted in Asia, there are 15,325 participants over 32,500 participant days.

Local faculty, who are certified by Crotonville, teach leadership courses and are monitored on a regular basis to ensure GE’s high standards are met. The local faculty delivers a consistent message in every class but is allowed liberties that take into account cultural differences and localize certain training components.

The majority of leadership courses are taught in English, however in the emerging markets, some essential skills training (for example, presentation skills, interviewing skills, etc.) are offered in different languages since the audience for these courses range in level of experience and English speaking ability. Courses in Asia, for example, are translated into Japanese, Korean and Chinese. In EMEA, the essential skills curriculum has been translated into eight languages, covering 85 percent of the employee base.

Employee demographics in emerging markets are somewhat different than employees in the United States. The population of employees is younger, has less experience with GE, and less professional experience overall. For example, the average age of a GE employee in Asia is about 35 years, the average amount of time an employee in Asia has worked at GE is six years and 60 percent of employees in Asia have less than five years of work experience with GE. To address the needs of a young workforce and provide access to experienced role models, videos of leaders were launched in an online learning tool. In 2008, GE leaders from China were featured in these videos. They each chose a growth trait and explained how it was personally important to advancing and building their career. So far, these videos have proved to be a strong tool in leadership development.

Businesses in other emerging markets are also “young,” but have built a solid infrastructure of training which allows them to meet employees’ needs while they grow. For example, with strong training support at the corporate level, India held 30 percent more courses in 2008 than in 2007.

A challenge faced in the emerging markets for employees is that some work from remote locations, such as field engineers and sales people. To reach these employees, GE offers training that drives learning through technology such as telepresence, webex sessions, online learning platforms and online videos. These interactive tools fill the gap through 120 different programs and have proven successful in locations that have stable Internet connections.

In 2009, employee training and development will drive to increase reach, become even more global than we are today and increase impact of our courses on employee performance and development. Based on all we have accomplished over the past few years, these goals are clearly within GE’s sights