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United Way of America
Microsoft Office Certification Helps United Way Increase Efficiency
Microsoft Office training at the national headquarters of United Way of America is more successful than ever thanks to Microsoft Office Specialist certification. Employees welcome the opportunity for skills and career advancement, and management is pleased with the added benefits of decreased turnover, improved productivity, and self-sufficiency.
How do you provide support to over 1,400 community-based non-profit charitable organizations across the United States? If you're the nation's leading community solutions provider, you must ensure that your national leadership has the knowledge and tools to work both quickly and effectively. And that's exactly what the United Way of America is doing.
The United Way has a long and remarkable history of building stronger communities throughout America. Local United Way organizations partner with over 45,000 charitable agencies to implement programs and services that address community priorities. In 2001, local United Ways are projected to have set a record by raising $3.91 billion to be used for these programs and services.
Managing the resources and relationships of such a large charitable network requires dedication, loads of volunteers, and national leadership that can quickly respond to national and local needs.
Encouraging Training
In 2001, United Way of America adopted Microsoft® Office Specialist certification to assist employees in bringing their desktop productivity skills up to speed. In just over a year, almost 18 percent of employees at United Way headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, have earned the certification.
Phillip Walker, vice president of the information services and technology division of United Way of America, is pleased with the response.
"Microsoft Office certification has our employees and supervisors excited about training," he says. "Supervisors are excited about having better trained staff, and employees are excited about having a Microsoft credential that certifies their computer skills."
Though certification is not mandatory, Walker reports that it has proven to be a powerful training incentive.
"Certification alone provides enough incentive to draw employees in to training and even to engage in independent study," Walker remarks. "Employees who regularly avoided training in the past are now signing up for courses."
As an authorized testing center, United Way of America can offer Microsoft Office certification exams on site to employees, reducing costs and time needed to take exams. This convenience is imperative to employees like Lisa Axtell, assistant to the chief of staff.
"My job keeps me extremely busy every day" she says. "Despite my busy schedule, I was able to earn Master level certification without falling behind at work. I could choose how to prepare for the exams by attending training courses or studying on my own, and then take exams when it fit my work schedule."
Decreasing Turnover
While keeping talented employees on board can be a difficult task for any employer, it's especially challenging for employers in the non-profit field.
According to Training Manager Todd Irvin, certification helps United Way of America maintain a high retention level by offering employees a valuable and tangible benefit.
"As a non-profit charitable organization, we can't offer our employees tons of stock options and enormous bonuses," he explains. "We have to appeal to employees on a different level by investing in their skills and careers-and certification helps us do that."
United Way of America points to its information technology (IT) department as a prime example of the retention benefits possible with certification. A high turnover rate used to be a major concern for the department. However, since United Way of America began offering certification programs, including Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE), and Microsoft Certified Systems Developer (MCSD), not one certified employee has left the IT department.
Certification is also impacting administrative staff morale. During exit interviews, twenty-five percent of administrative assistants cited lack of opportunity as the primary reason for leaving the company. Since implementing Microsoft Office certification, lack of opportunity has never been cited as a reason for leaving. Irvin credits certification for improving administrative assistants' morale by providing opportunities for growth.
"We are confident that as more employees take advantage of Microsoft Office certification, they will know that United Way of America is committed to their development and careers," he says. "That kind of commitment makes employees think twice before accepting other employment."
Increasing the Number of Experts
"In the past, lack of computer skills meant that a great number of people were depending on a very small number of experts for support," Walker says. "As Microsoft Office certification increases competency, productivity improves in two ways: First, each person becomes his or her own expert, diminishing the need to refer to others for support; second, those who were providing support are freed up to expand their positions into other aspects of the organization."
Irvin also reports that he's noticed an increase in job performance and employee satisfaction. He explains the reason for the improvement in this way, "Certification improves workplace morale by empowering employees to help themselves."
In fact, Irvin has observed that as the number of employees completing Microsoft Office training and certification increases, the number of calls received at the employee help desk decreases. He notes, "Now, only really sophisticated calls make it to my desk."
Recognizing employees who have gained Microsoft Office skills is important to Irvin. Taking a training course without following up with certification and recognition, he says, is like completing school without walking at graduation. "You may have the skills, but no one really knows. With Microsoft Office certification, employees can show an official certificate to their managers to verify their skills."
Irvin has set up a "Certification Board" in the employee lounge where he posts the photos of Microsoft Office-certified employees. "The best way to get people interested in certification is to show them that they can benefit as others have," he says.
Power to Respond
Executive Assistant Virginia Rivas says she likes Microsoft Office exams because they're performance-based, which means that you must not only "know" how to use the programs, but also must be able to "do."
"Organization and the ability to respond speedily are mandatory for my position," she says. "In preparing for certification in Microsoft Word and Excel, I learned several simple, yet powerful tools, such as templates, routing, and tracking, that have increased my ability to quickly fulfill assignments, saving me time and energy in the process."
Increases in employee skill level have led to greater self-sufficiency on the collective level. Irvin states, "Since our investment in certification programs, rarely do we have to contract business out. We have the skills and knowledge to find the solutions ourselves."
This self-sufficiency was evidenced in United Way's response to the events of September 11, 2001. Immediately after the tragic events took place, United Way of America began receiving donations for the victims and their families. Irvin describes United Way's response: "We didn't have time to develop a new program to track the funds; we needed an immediate solution. Because several of our employees developed advanced Excel skills through certification, we were able to develop a sophisticated spreadsheet to track the donated funds right away. It was an excellent temporary solution until a more permanent solution was ready."
This level of efficiency is what distinguishes United Way of America as an effective and responsive community leader throughout the U.S. As vice president of information systems and technology, Walker intends to encourage further efficiency by providing employees with the latest tools and resources. Going forward, he says, he would like to see every administrative assistant, and many of the professional staff, achieve expert-level certification in Office programs related to their job duties.
Walker says, "As the national leadership organization for the United Way system, we have a responsibility to model the best practices for our local organizations, and we feel we are doing that with Microsoft Office certification. It increases our ability to impact communities by having a staff that knows how to use the tools and resources that will help them perform their jobs more effectively."
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