The Center for Human Services is a non-profit organization based in Sedalia, Missouri. It provides programs and services for residents with disabilities through its three program areas. The Children's Therapy Center offers services for disabled children, vocational opportunities for adults are available through its Cooperative Workshops, and the Community Living Program provides residential programs and support services. The Center for Human Services has 275 total employees and has been a member of the Business Skills Lending Library since December of 1998. To find out more about the organization, visit www.chs-mo.org.

Challenge:
Before joining our video, CD-ROM and DVD Lending Library, department managers at the Center were responsible for delivering classroom-based training. Their Safety Personnel Specialist, in particular, spent twenty to twenty-five hours in the classroom each month. In addition, he spent several hours preparing for his classes. Because of the time he spent preparing to teach and the classroom time, he was having trouble managing all of his duties. As with many of his peers in small organizations, training was just one of his many hats. He needed to find a flexible plan where he could spend less time in the classroom yet still address the Center's safety training needs.

At the same time, the travel costs associated with training were increasing. Employees at one branch were required to travel more than 30 miles each way to the main branch to receive training, which in turn increased their time away from their job. Some employees were also being sent offsite to seminars in Kansas, an additional hour and a half drive.

Solution:
With frustrations mounting, Ronn Keyes, the Center's Staff Development & Training Coordinator decided to look into the benefits of a lending library membership. He visited the website and was pleasantly surprised by the vast offerings and economical price. The Business Training Library turned out to be a great match for the Center. His Business Training Library Training Consultant suggested the Center start with a level 5 membership. This level allows Ronn the flexibility he needs to service his other location while still meeting his internal training needs.

The Center holds monthly meetings called Employee Forums. They cover a different topic each month, using library programs during the sessions. The most recent Forum covered "What to Do BEFORE Calling HR." The Human Resources department wanted to ensure that all steps of the disciplinary process were handled appropriately before involving their department. Upon the recommendation of his Account Manager, Ronn used Legal Briefs: Discipline and Termination (#39017) to get his session started and from there, they discussed their internal procedures for handling this difficult process. The HR department is now confident that when a problem arises, and they are brought in to help with a situation, all steps have been followed. They're looking forward to next month's Teamwork Forum.

Ronn gets great participation at these events. He feels the secret to his success has been his consistent communication with their staff. He develops a monthly training calendar in which he publishes the upcoming training every third Friday of the month. They also do paycheck stuffers from the Internal Merchandizing Toolkit to increase interest in special training as it comes up. He loves to see how the employees get excited about his sessions. He attributes this to his own enthusiasm for learning and the fact that he's providing relevant, timely and diverse training. Topics include anything from safety, to teambuilding, and customer service. "I am consistently pleased by the new programs added to the library. I've watched the library grow by leaps and bounds since we first joined and my account manager is always there to help me select the best possible resource for my needs."

Benefits:
Since The Center for Human Services joined the library almost 4 years ago, their training program has changed dramatically. The safety CDs have been a huge help (courses #41001-41028). Their employees can now sign up for training on their own. They just let Ronn know the date and time and he ensures that a training room will be ready for them. Employees can learn on their own time and at their own speed. This has opened up time in the Safety Personnel Specialist's day to accomplish his other job responsibilities. Marked improvement was noticed immediately in his contact with outside vendors thanks to the special attention they were now getting.

The Center has been able to save time by joining the library as well as dramatically reduce their training costs. Travel costs dropped too now that courses are shipped directly to the second location instead of a trip into Sedalia for training. The trips into Kansas City, MO, dropped in frequency thanks to the internal training classes Ronn is now providing. Ronn states, "Our membership paid for itself in the first year in form of an annual savings of $3,000 in mileage cost and we've regained more than 800 hours of time lost while staff was in transit to training courses. And even better, our quality hasn't suffered a bit. In fact, quite the opposite!"

Conclusion:
Now that the Center for Human Services is approaching the end of their fourth year of membership, what are the results? "To date, our return on investment is at least four to one. Our library membership is easily one of the best decisions I've ever made," Ronn reports. "I can now deliver faster and more flexible training with improved tracking and record keeping and less traveling and time away from work. I've really enjoyed working with the people at BTL. They have a knowledgeable staff delivering very personalized service."