Is this reasonable?

PaulStat

PaulStat

PaulStat

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My company is allowing me to take some requested training, with the Proviso that if I leave before 2 years after "the last day of training" that I will pay back some or all of the costs.

Now the course I am looking at could potentially take up to a year to do (the exam "voucher" covers this period), so I could potentially be tied in to the company for 3 years.

I don't particuarly want to leave at the moment, but things change. Does this sound reasonable?

Edit: I doubt it will actually take a year to do, but still

Edit2: For those not reading my reply before posting

"Oh I understand they have to do something like this, but 2 years after "the last day of training" sounds a bit excessive, the projects I do for the company range anywhere between £750-£80k so they make more than enough from me pretty quickly"
 
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Yup, their investment in you.

Not very nice for example if you get a professional qualification and then leave a few weeks later armed with said qualification to a job elsewhere. It's your current employers loss of investment.
 
Reasonable to me, why should they pay for you to train then you leave. They want to use the skills they paid to train for, for a little while atleast.
 
~J~ said:
Yup, their investment in you.

Not very nice for example if you get a professional qualification and then leave a few weeks later armed with said qualification to a job elsewhere. It's your current employers loss of investment.
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Oh I understand they have to do something like this, but 2 years after "the last day of training" sounds a bit excessive, the projects I do for the company range anywhere between £750-£80k so they make more than enough from me pretty quickly :p
 
They are making an investment in you, although not nice all they want is their investment back, sounds reasonable to me.
 
I don't find it reasonable but it is common

unless, of course it is more for your benefit and not directly connected with your role
 
i have a similar clause attached to my training, it is going to have little incidence because mine like yours specifies leaving after the last day of the training, which i havent finished and i'm looking to leave

the agreement will have had to be drawn up very carefully for them to be able to get the money back from you.
i know that a big mistake was made with a whole new team at my company who were trained up to be home inspectors
but the figure on the agreement was not what they paid for the training as a result of discounts etc so it made the agreement worthless, there are plenty of other discrepancies with the agreement that could lead to a similar situation
 
The company that I work for do this as well. It is a way of safe gaurding their investment in you. I think it is resonable.

Two years agao I was tied in for two years with a £1000 buy out if I left the company. this is a very common practice.

the only way around is to pay for the books, the course and the exams yourself and ask for the time off to attend. This way they can't tie you down. We that's the way i do it now with my company and I'm doing my third course in 2 years with no tie down.
 
As Abraham says it would have to be drawn up pretty carefully to be watertight but it is legal to put in such a clause and even if the exact clause wasn't upheld in full I'd expect that it could be at least partly applied since you've both agreed to it with an aim to create a binding contract.

What you might want to think about doing is putting aside a little bit of money every month to cover some or all of the cost of training should you leave the company early, if you need it then it doesn't come as a lump sum that you possibly can't pay off, if you don't need it then you've got some savings there to spend on what you want.
 
semi-pro waster said:
As Abraham says it would have to be drawn up pretty carefully to be watertight but it is legal to put in such a clause and even if the exact clause wasn't upheld in full I'd expect that it could be at least partly applied since you've both agreed to it with an aim to create a binding contract.

What you might want to think about doing is putting aside a little bit of money every month to cover some or all of the cost of training should you leave the company early, if you need it then it doesn't come as a lump sum that you possibly can't pay off, if you don't need it then you've got some savings there to spend on what you want.
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That's a pretty cool idea, hmmm i'm gonna have to ask a few more questions before I sign anything though eg.

1. Does this apply to all training no matter what the cost i.e. if the course costs £50 or £1000
2. Does the period "re-set" itself everytime you start a new course?

etc. etc.
 
It is, in my opinion very reasonable. Considering th cost of some training courses and the company going out of thier way with away days etc. its isn't a bad deal all in all. The only thing I would question is tied in for 2 years, my company just ties me in for one year, which is fine for me.

- Pea0n
 
Pea0n said:
It is, in my opinion very reasonable. Considering th cost of some training courses and the company going out of thier way with away days etc. its isn't a bad deal all in all. The only thing I would question is tied in for 2 years, my company just ties me in for one year, which is fine for me.

- Pea0n
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It's a self learning course, so i'd be doing the training in my own time
 
PaulStat said:
That's a pretty cool idea, hmmm i'm gonna have to ask a few more questions before I sign anything though eg.

1. Does this apply to all training no matter what the cost i.e. if the course costs £50 or £1000
2. Does the period "re-set" itself everytime you start a new course?

etc. etc.
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It would be a contract between you and the company so yes, regardless of costs of training, if you agree to it then you are bound by it.
 
PaulStat said:
That's a pretty cool idea, hmmm i'm gonna have to ask a few more questions before I sign anything though eg.

1. Does this apply to all training no matter what the cost i.e. if the course costs £50 or £1000
2. Does the period "re-set" itself everytime you start a new course?

etc. etc.
Click to expand...

the cost should definitely be no greater than the cost the company has incurred paying for the training, afaik only for the actual training/certification, not for any time off or expenses

the agreement should be for a fixed set of training i.e. a certain certification or specific exams, the period will begin at the point you acheive that fixed set
 
Yeah very reasonable, if you join the army then want to leave before youve done all of your agreed service you have to "buy yourself out" - quite common practice i believe.
 
I've have known people who have had this clause, although I don't, and they normally have it with a pro-rata (?) weighting so after 1 year you'd have to pay back 50% after 18 months 25% etc ...

Whether I agree with it .... to an extent although I think that it should be 1 year not 2.
 
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