Canadian HR Reporter

Canadian HR RepoRteR February 23, 2015 FeAtures 15 executive HR ManageMent eDucatiOn www.yorku.ca/mhrm Continue working while you gain the competencies and credentials required by Human Resources professionals. The program is designed to fit your busy schedule and can be taken on a part-time or full-time basis. apply now. PhD and Bachelor degrees also available Master of Human Resources Management Executive-style degree is unique in Canada contact us for more information mhrm@yorku.ca | 1-866-780-MHRM Learn with colleagues and top scholars at canada's leader in human resource management education School of HuMan ReSOuRce ManageMent liberal arts & professional studies HR Education McDonald's flips learning to higher level Partnership with B.C. Institute of Technology gives employees degree or diploma By Sarah Dobson s erving burgers and fries, many workers start their careers at mcdonald's, finding much-needed income, skills and experience. e chain also provides extensive in-house training programs so employees can further develop their exper- tise and advance their careers. Recently, McDonald's took that supportive culture even further by partnering with the British Columbia Institute of Technol- ogy (BCIT) in Burnaby, B.C. In offering education incentives to McDonald's managers and team leaders, the partnership provides advanced placement or course credit that can be applied to a BCIT School of Business diploma or degree based upon training module completion at McDonald's. This training is recognized by BCIT through the Advanced Placement and Prior Learning Program (APPL) and credit is awarded for each level of McDon- ald's training completed. "A lot of organizations know that McDonald's does a good job of training so any company would see someone with a McDonald's management background as being desirable, but that's not uni- versal," says Kevin Wainwright, program head at the BCIT School of Business. "This way, they get a formal credential, they get their degree and as a young person with a long career in front of them, this gives them greater flexibility. "They see this program and they suddenly realize that they don't have to spend an extra eight years in part-time education to get a degree or have to quit their job or take a sabbatical for three years in order to get their degree." The program can also mean significant cost savings for em- ployees by reducing the number of courses and time required. e full cost of earning a two-year di- ploma, followed by the BBA de- gree program, is about $27,200 combined. McDonald's students enrolled in a diploma and then degree program can earn up to 16 course credits, saving about $8,000. And if an individual is also awarded course exemptions through the Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) system, he could save up to $14,400 relative to the cost of the regular pathway at BCIT. "For many of them, we're tak- ing away almost the entire first two years of a four-year degree, so many of them are saving up to $14,000 worth of tuition alone, not to mention books and whatever else would go along with that, so they could... easily save upwards of $20,000," says Wainwright. Managers have the opportu- nity to accelerate their diploma and degree completion while re- ducing costs, says Stacy Salvalag- gio, national director of training, learning and development at Mc- Donald's in Toronto. "And in the BCIT learning en- vironment, it's really enhanced through the McDonald's students being able to contribute real-life examples to draw on in classroom participation and their team ac- tivities that are part of their cur- riculum, so it's been a really nice match." 2013 study e partnership was formalized after a 2013 study by BCIT found comparisons between the learning outcomes at McDonald's Canada and the 13 major topics taught in business programs at post-second- ary institutions, including market- ing, finance, accounting, organi- zational behaviour, operations, economics and business policy. "e findings indicated that the learning outcomes taught through the McDonald's management and leadership training programs and modules were very aligned with the BCIT School of Business aca- demic course, particularly relating to their business diploma and de- gree programs," says Salvalaggio. AdvANced > pg. 16 Credit: Mark Blinch (Reuters) McDonald's focus on training and development has extended to a partnership with the British Columbia Institute of Technology.

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