reimburse a training fee

kokolino23

Thanks a lot for your replies, even though I would agree with your view related to recovering the training cost is more than it seems. I think nobody moves jobs for the sake of it and would want to do well in their new role. However, what if the new job doesn't meet expectations from either side? What if you can't get on with your managers,  colleagues or is turning to be too complicated for you? If the work-balance is not good and you can't cope with it? What if the employer doesn't like you and thinks you don't perform well in your job?
What if you have health or family issues and need to move on to something else?
The list can go on...
I agree with @Flatfacedcat but unfortunately I can't find any reviews about them, this might tell a lot then. Very difficult decision but I'm tempted to stay in my current role, maybe is not right to judge based on that clause but I can't think of any reasonable way to approach them and query this clause so they don't get upset.
Or maybe bite the bullet and accept the job, then if for whatever reason I'll leave accept the loss on my final salary (will be less than the training cost). I'm not sure if they can sue me for the remaining balance.

Undervalued

kokolino23 said:

Thanks a lot for your replies, even though I would agree with your view related to recovering the training cost is more than it seems. I think nobody moves jobs for the sake of it and would want to do well in their new role. However, what if the new job doesn't meet expectations from either side? What if you can't get on with your managers,  colleagues or is turning to be too complicated for you? If the work-balance is not good and you can't cope with it? What if the employer doesn't like you and thinks you don't perform well in your job?
What if you have health or family issues and need to move on to something else?
The list can go on...
I agree with @Flatfacedcat but unfortunately I can't find any reviews about them, this might tell a lot then. Very difficult decision but I'm tempted to stay in my current role, maybe is not right to judge based on that clause but I can't think of any reasonable way to approach them and query this clause so they don't get upset.
Or maybe bite the bullet and accept the job, then if for whatever reason I'll leave accept the loss on my final salary (will be less than the training cost). I'm not sure if they can sue me for the remaining balance.

In theory they can, if they are entitled to in.

However, as I said in my earlier post, regardless of what the agreement says a court will only enforce a reasonable amount and would normally expect a pro rata reduction for the time you have worked there after training. 

NCC1701-A

kokolino23 said:

Thanks a lot for your replies, even though I would agree with your view related to recovering the training cost is more than it seems. I think nobody moves jobs for the sake of it and would want to do well in their new role. However, what if the new job doesn't meet expectations from either side? What if you can't get on with your managers,  colleagues or is turning to be too complicated for you? If the work-balance is not good and you can't cope with it? What if the employer doesn't like you and thinks you don't perform well in your job?
What if you have health or family issues and need to move on to something else?
The list can go on...
I agree with @Flatfacedcat but unfortunately I can't find any reviews about them, this might tell a lot then. Very difficult decision but I'm tempted to stay in my current role, maybe is not right to judge based on that clause but I can't think of any reasonable way to approach them and query this clause so they don't get upset.
Or maybe bite the bullet and accept the job, then if for whatever reason I'll leave accept the loss on my final salary (will be less than the training cost). I'm not sure if they can sue me for the remaining balance.

We don't know how much your salary is or how much the course is, but have you considered suggesting you take a lower salary whilst being trained to offset some of the cost of the course? - when you take tax & NI into consideration, its a lot less impact on you than having to find the full cost having left.

LightFlare

I would say that a lot depends on the type of course and how useful it is, how essential it is and whether it’s potentially transferable to other employers or not 

Their approach and any reasonableness associated with them attempting to recover any costs would depend on the answer

kokolino23

LightFlare said:

I would say that a lot depends on the type of course and how useful it is, how essential it is and whether it’s potentially transferable to other employers or not 

Their approach and any reasonableness associated with them attempting to recover any costs would depend on the answer

The cost is £5k for a module. I don't know how useful could be because it's unclear how much work will be on that product. I don't think it's much tbh because the company deals with a few products and this course is for something that they do quite rarely. You need the training if you work on that product on daily basis not every now and then.

lincroft1710

kokolino23 said:

LightFlare said:

I would say that a lot depends on the type of course and how useful it is, how essential it is and whether it’s potentially transferable to other employers or not 

Their approach and any reasonableness associated with them attempting to recover any costs would depend on the answer

The cost is £5k for a module. I don't know how useful could be because it's unclear how much work will be on that product. I don't think it's much tbh because the company deals with a few products and this course is for something that they do quite rarely. You need the training if you work on that product on daily basis not every now and then.

Unless you would be on a salary of £100K or more, that's quite a lot to pay back

lincroft1710

kokolino23 said:

 What if the employer doesn't like you and thinks you don't perform well in your job?

In that case I would argue that you wouldn't owe any money as it is not your decision to leave

Flatfacedcat

Maybe in other countries is different. I live within the European Union and here I never heard of a company expecting its employees to pay money to the company they work for the training courses. What I heard often instead, and what is common here, is that companies pay all the costs if they want their employees to attend any training course; furthermore, companies are paying also accommodation and transport if the training course is in another city or country. And what is also pretty common here in Europe is the awareness among people that companies who demand money from their employees are usually some sort of scam and fraud - so the majority of people in Europe know this and stay away from such fake "job" advertisements.

General_Grant

Flatfacedcat said:

Maybe in other countries is different. I live within the European Union and here I never heard of a company expecting its employees to pay money to the company they work for the training courses. What I heard often instead, and what is common here, is that companies pay all the costs if they want their employees to attend any training course; furthermore, companies are paying also accommodation and transport if the training course is in another city or country. And what is also pretty common here in Europe is the awareness among people that companies who demand money from their employees are usually some sort of scam and fraud - so the majority of people in Europe know this and stay away from such fake "job" advertisements.

It is not that the OP's potential employer is wanting them to pay for the training.  What the company would seek to do is to recoup the cost of the training if the OP resigned within two years of the company paying out £5K for training for them.  It would not apply if the company dismissed him.

Flatfacedcat

General_Grant said:

It is not that the OP's potential employer is wanting them to pay for the training.  What the company would seek to do is to recoup the cost of the training if the OP left within two years of the company paying out £5K for training for them.

Yes, this was clear to me; thanks for highlighting. My perspective is this: when a company wants to get money back from their employees for the training they are expecting their employees to complete is the same as expecting their employees to pay for such training from the very beginning. Here is about the clause the company included in their contract and about what does the presence of such clause says about the company itself.