Apprenticeship Carolina is paying off quickly for some area businesses

In the past year, Cumberland Hills Assisted Living obtained the registered apprenticeship designation, and it's paying off quickly, said administrator Liz Neal.

Through Apprenticeship Carolina, Neal is sending three staff caregivers to Aiken Technical College to obtain Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) status.

"We arranged their schedules for this, and it's a great thing," Neal said at the Aiken Rotary Club on Monday. "The program pays for their courses and textbooks and will pay, in our case, for the uniforms they will use for clinicals. We're getting better-trained employees as a result."

Apprenticeship Carolina is a relatively new program administrated through the S.C. Technical College System. A coordinator with the program, Ann Marie Stieritz, served as the Rotary club's guest speaker.

"People tend to think of Donald Trump when they hear the word apprenticeship," said Stieritz. "But it's a tool that our business community has found to be worthwhile. We have partnerships across the state, and it's a win-win for employers and employees."

The initiative came out of recommendations from the S.C. Chamber of Commerce. In 2002 officials discovered that South Carolina had only about 800 apprentices working in business and industry throughout the state. Other Southeastern states had far more, with Georgia and North Carolina having more than 14,000.

A registered apprenticeship means that a company has gone through a process of gaining recognition for meeting a national standard of high quality. There are three components, Stieritz said. Companies can provide on-the-job training for one or more apprentices for a minimum of one year.

"You can take someone with low or no skills and make them skilled and responsible," said Stieritz. "Career development is the key."

The second component, used by Cumberland Hills, is job-related education and is provided typically by Aiken Technical College and the other 15 campuses in South Carolina. Finally, apprentices qualify for a scalable wage progression.

"This is not an internship," Stieritz said. "The apprentice is a full employee, but there's a recognition that, if he's at a lower skill level, he won't make as much as other employees. As the apprentice gains skills, he'll get incremental wage increases. What it does is keep the employee engaged and builds loyalty."

Since 2007, the number of business partnerships has increased from 90 to 240. Similarly, there were 777 apprentices that year, and that number has grown to 2,001 as of December 2009.

"This is definitely paying off in Aiken County," said ATC President Dr. Susan Winsor. "I really credit our staff at the college who have an excellent relationships with area employers. I really appreciate the participation of employers in our region."

For more information, visit www.sctechsystem.com.

Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com or call him at 644-2391.