Rubber Product Manufacturer Implements ‘Hire to Retire’ Initiative By Sarah Knight, marketing content manager, 180 Skills
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ith companies struggling to build strong, stable workforces, consider creating career lattices for employees to climb. That is what rubber product manufacturer R.E. Darling is doing as part of its Hire to Retire initiative to win the war for talent in Tucson, Arizona. R.E. Darling specializes in the manufacture of specialty rubber and composite products used in the aerospace and defense industry. Its largest business segment involves manufacturing solid rocket motor case insulators. The company employs approximately 200 individuals, from mill room operators and process engineers to support specialists and production supervisors. Like most manufacturers, R.E. Darling has been a revolving door of employee turnover for the past few years. But it’s hopeful that door will stop circling as the company prepares to launch a new talent management and retention strategy that centers around the career lattice model. “We would have employees start one week and quit the next because another employer was paying a dollar more an hour,” said Jen Johnson, HR specialist at R.E. Darling. “We
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knew we had to do something, so we decided to revamp our learning and development efforts.” Compared to the career ladder model, the career lattice approach is much more adaptive, representing the multidirectional, flexible and expansive nature of how successful organizations work today. It is a strategy that creates a well-rounded understanding of the company and how each department contributes to its success. To successfully implement its new strategy, R.E. Darling needed a flexible training solution that could provide varied paths for employee growth and development – and 180 Skills fit the bill. With nearly 800 skills courses in its online content library, 180 Skills is a turnkey solution for deploying skills training in a variety of industry segments. It includes an intuitive learning management system (LMS) for assigning and completing courses, student study guides and instructor training plans. 180 Skills courses span four broad categories: workplace and soft skills, risk management and compliance skills, technical
