Engineering Review Courses During Work: How Lunch and Learns Can Increase Career Development, Morale

Career development through education is often thought to be difficult for working professionals with a full-time 9-5 job. Whether a working professional wishes to take college classes or a discipline-specific exam review course, there is a common misconception that any educational activity must be done in the evenings after work. 

Lunch and learns have become a popular solution for educating full-time working professionals. Lunch and learns are typically organized by a company to help further increase employees' skills and career development and can even increase employee morale by creating an atmosphere promoting employee appreciation. 

Career development is perhaps the biggest reason working professionals participate in lunch and learn programs. A Harvard Business Review article analyzed career development opportunities by examining more than 1,200 professionals. 

"Workers reported that companies generally satisfy their needs for on-the-job development and that they value these opportunities, which include high-visibility positions and significant increases in responsibility," reported Jie Cao, Monika Hamori, and Burak Koyuncu, the article's authors. ⁱ 

Working professionals often wish to advance into more challenging job roles the longer they work for a company, and with the correct training tools, they can typically progress into higher positions at a desirable rate. 

Employees love when companies provide extra benefits, such as company outings or career development opportunities. By offering different perks to employees, companies can build a more trusting management-employee relationship, which therefore increases overall employee morale and decreases turnover. According to a LinkedIn article, "[E]xtra fringe benefits can improve morale. [Lunch and Learns] create an atmosphere of appreciation, kindness and caring for employees." ⁱⁱ 

In the engineering field, continual career development is essential for success. Technically, by law, one cannot refer to themselves as an engineer without being properly licensed. To become licensed, people typically have to take and pass both the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam and the Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE). These exams are considered rigorous and have been reported to require approximately 200 hours of preparation for each. After becoming licensed, many engineering state boards require licensed engineers to participate in continuing education courses by earing professional development hours. 

For engineering companies or for individuals who wish to take an exam review course during the day, School of PE offers a PE Civil Live Online exam review course during weekday afternoons. This time slot is perfect for corporate training. 

Corporations, what are you waiting for? Let School of PE help your employees prepare for and pass the PE Civil exam! 

References 

i Why Top Young Managers Are in a Nonstop Job Hunt. Retrieved from https://hbr.org /2012/07/why-top-young-managers-are in-a-nonstop-job-hunt 

ii Lunch and Learn Benefits. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com /pulse/lunch-learn-benefits wendy-rose/