24 S T U F F • 2 0 1 8 • StuffMadeinMA.com
Get paid while
you learn
BY SARAH CONNELL
39%
Amount Essex County
manufacturing
employees make above
the U.S. average for the
industry
$113,690
Average annual pay
of Boston metro area
computer hardware
engineers, the highest-
paying engineering job
in the region
Eastern Mass.
manufacturers pay
employees to get training
and degrees
I
n the spring of 2018, Walmart made
national headlines when the retailer said
it would pay for employees to obtain
business degrees. These types of tuition
assistance and educational reimbursement
programs have become in vogue thanks to
high-profile businesses like Amazon and
Starbucks wanting to improve the quality of
their workers' training.
This, of course, isn't news to the
manufacturing industry, which has
pioneered on-the-job training and
educational assistance in order to keep good
workers at their companies, advancing up
the ladder as their skillsets grow. In
Massachusetts, the Mass Manufacturing
Extension Partnership (MassMEP) has
allowed manufacturers to embrace new
markets and upgrade the skills of incumbent
workers.
Taking a lean management approach allows
manufacturers to place greater emphasis on
growth and efficiency.
"All of our client companies are essentially
paying for advanced learning for their
employees, since they are employed at the
company and the company pays for the
training. We provide certificates for our
training that can then be used by the
employees as part of their ISO training
requirements, job advancement, etc.," says
Source: U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics
Source: U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics
$
