Welcome to another edition of the Cavignac Education Series: We are Learners, where we discuss the importance of our education efforts and how we strive to support our colleagues as they grow in their careers at Cavignac. In order to be leaders in our industry, we recognize that we must be constantly advancing our knowledge on the services we provide and issues our clients may be facing. This is why we offer an additional five days of paid time off for education purposes that will advance our colleagues’ careers.
In the last year we had a number of colleagues utilize this benefit to further their careers. Here is what our colleague Jacqueline Graf had to say about her experience using Education PTO.
“The Education PTO benefit offered at Cavignac allowed me to push my career forward by pursuing a designation in my field. I utilized the whole 40 hours in both 2021 and 2022, dedicating several months to take courses and study for the SHRM – CP certification. The total amount of time spent studying for this was about 150 hours. Being able to use Education PTO to take time off of work for test preparation made it possible to dedicate this much time to my education. I could not have achieved this without this benefit and without the support that the team provided me.”
We believe that our colleagues should not only be striving to further their education and expertise but they should also be compensated for their efforts. This is why we offer compensation and bonuses to those who achieve new designations and encourage colleagues to become experts in areas that peak their interest. Our colleague Dan Smith recently achieved his CIC (Certified Insurance Counselor) Designation. This is what he had to say about his experience using the Education PTO benefit.
“One of my favorite benefits at Cavignac is Education PTO. We are a knowledge-based organization and Cavignac does everything they can to provide employees opportunities to study. The company provides specific time out of the office to take courses to further our education and be better able to assist our clients, and the last couple of years I completed the CIC (Certified Insurance Counselor) designation through The National Alliance, using all 40 hours of time each year. Over the course of two years, I was able to use this benefit and take time off work to focus on class, course material, prep and then take the exam for all four courses. It helps not stressing about missing work and in addition saves my PTO bank so that I can still vacation throughout the year!”
In order to provide the highest level of service to our clients, we must be continuing to educate ourselves on new trends and potential risks that could affect their businesses. In this ever-changing environment we live in, there are inevitably new areas for our colleagues to become experts in and it is important that we offer the time and resources to pursue education efforts that will help them continue to excel in their career.
