Training and Education
Ingersoll Rand significantly increased its investment in training during 2008. More than 100,000 training courses were completed during the year by employees and distributors. Approximately 70 programs were made available to employees. We established an Enterprise Learning Council during 2008 to address training issues.
Our target is for salaried employees to have approximately 60 hours of training annually, including compliance, professional development, and a review of the Business Operating System (BOS). Those who manage people receive about 80 hours of additional annual training. All employees receive training on the Code of Conduct.
The corporate university budget is approximately $10 million.
Ingersoll Rand requires all salaried employees to complete an online Foreign Corrupt Practices Act training course. By the end of 2008, approximately 30,000 employees (about 90 percent of salaried workers) had completed the training. Salaried employees have access to more than 900 titles of off-the-shelf training in 18 different languages.
A specific session on ethics was included in the November 2008 Leadership Conference, when approximately 300 of the company’s top leaders gathered for alignment and education.
The company’s orientation module for new employees now includes a Progress is greener section. This is a self-paced, on-line course for all levels. Plans are in place to develop a workbook form for employees without access to computers.
Ingersoll Rand University
Ingersoll Rand University (IRU) provides strategic education to develop business leaders, enhance strategic competencies, and drive the Ingersoll Rand culture. IRU also acts as a broker to provide training programs and manage training events in our emerging markets. In addition, IRU provides the learning management system infrastructure (LMS) to track and deploy on-line learning for our employees, customers, and dealers. IRU has education centers in Davidson, North Carolina; Prague, Czech Republic; and Shanghai, China. We offer learning programs in Bangalore, India, as well. Since its inception in 2003, 35,000 people have participated in more than 420 sessions, and more than 9,800 employees, customers, and dealers have used training available via IRU On-Line. IRU develops and manages the annual Ingersoll Rand Leadership Conference and quarterly Leadership Forums. A part of the company’s Human Resources group, IRU works closely with Human Resources colleagues to drive business-relevant and high-quality learning for Ingersoll Rand.
MBA Program
The Ingersoll Rand MBA program was launched in 2004 as a strategic initiative to develop a pipeline of future company leaders through investment in graduate level business education. Ingersoll Rand, in partnership with Indiana University, developed a cohort-based program that integrates real Ingersoll Rand business issues into the curriculum, provides members visibility with the highest levels of the company’s leadership, and creates a strong network of future company leaders. The program has three graduated cohorts and three more in process. The program promotes:
- A world class business education
- Development of top talent into exceptional leaders
- A global network promoting dual citizenship
Accelerated Development Program
The company’s ADP (Accelerated Development Program) is focused on recent college graduates who rotate around the company in various positions to develop future leaders of the company. The program currently exists in Europe, Asia, and the U.S., and the company is piloting it in Mexico in 2009.
In an effort to promote diversity, the ADP has a significant number of women in the first two cohorts:
| ADP Cohort |
AP hired |
AP % Female |
European Served Area
(ESA) hired |
ESA % Female |
U.S. hired |
US % Female |
| 2007 |
10 |
50% |
16 |
31% |
30 |
33% |
| 2008 |
10 |
60% |
6 |
83% |
23 |
39% |
| 2009 |
recruiting now |
23 |
52% |
About 30 percent of the current group of ADPs volunteered to focus on three sustainability-related projects for the 2007/2008 period:
- Researching the food processing, transportation, and pharmaceutical markets to understand their sustainability goals, unmet needs, and trends in order to identify opportunities for innovation by Ingersoll Rand.
- Studying LEED and identifying how Ingersoll Rand can help customers achieve LEED certification, including designating a LEED point person at each business unit.
- Developing a GHG baseline inventory for the company and recommendations for improving the company’s sustainability strategy.
The three ADP projects together won an Ingersoll Rand President’s Award and a finalist for the Chairman's Award.
Training our Sales Force and Distributors
Residential Services uses training of its sales force and distributors as a differentiator between itself and its competitors. Our Dealer Sales Offices and independent distributors get training they need via a cascade model. There are about 40,000 to 50,000 people in this process, 2,000 of whom serve at some point as trainers. Many of the courses offered are e-courses for either the American Standard Heating and Air Conditioning or the Trane brand. Energy efficiency is woven throughout these courses. There have been over 35,000 e-courses completed over the last few years.
Dealers are most often small businesses that need this type of training. Our company takes a strong stand to help these people better serve the end customer. We get participant feedback in every class and capture the knowledge increase.