Balcia encourages and subsidizes employees in continuous learning
Hurray! I finished my last exam, I defended my final thesis, I tossed my graduation cap in the air and I'm now free to put studying behind me. Not quite. While in your best case scenario you might be done with academia, learning new skills is a part of life. And a successful career!
At Balcia, we not only appreciate the knowledge and skill set you bring to the team, but also encourage and support continuous learning that will allow you to grow as a professional.
Why keep learning?
There's a reason people say you learn something every day. Most of the new skills we pick-up happen almost unconsciously while we're dealing with everyday tasks whether at work or home, and make up an average of 70% of our learning capacity. Another 20% can be attributed to learning from others, whether it's simply someone sharing their tips and tricks in approaching certain tasks or more organized notions such as coaching and mentoring. Finally, the last 10% is where the true effort lies, but it's absolutely worth it and here's why!
Personal growth
Continuous learning is important for professional development, and education benefits offer a structured path to acquiring new skills and knowledge.
It makes you a bigger asset
By learning and picking up new skills, you're positioning yourself as a proactive contributor to your company’s success. You not only add value to your current role, but also showcase your potential for advancement.
Don't fall behind
Living in a fast-paced environment where yesterday's news is overshadowed by today's events, you can't rest on your existing knowledge base for long. The newcomers will simply outrun you!
Fill your own cup
Learning something new is a great way of keeping yourself happy and engaged. It gives you opportunities to look at things from a different perspective, reach new goals and prove to yourself that you can do more.
Make it count
Financing is often a sore spot for anything that's not a must-have. This is precisely why employer offered learning budgets are wonderful benefits that should be used to the fullest!
Learning and growing at Balcia
Depending on where you see yourself currently and in the future, when it comes to learning you can choose to take an active or passive approach. On the one hand there are several lectures and trainings put together by Balcia that offer unique, company targeted insights. And while you might be satisfied with this alone, at Balcia you are free to find additional learning opportunities that can diversify your skill set, if you wish to do so.
We take every opportunity
As a society we crave structure. We need leaders and devoted worker bees to make the world go round. And one cannot survive without the other. GALLUP research shows just how important it is for managers to be directly involved in employee development. Middle managers in particular wield unparalleled influence in such key areas as communication, recognition and overall professional development, which translates into positive employee engagement.
GALLUP also shows that in 2022 employee engagement has scored a record-high 23% worldwide. This means more workers found their work meaningful and felt connected to their team, manager and employer. Moreover, 70% of team engagement is directly related to the manager's contribution and insight into the employee's problems.
Since leaders aren't born, but made, we're here to lend a hand in unlocking that potential. In addition to different singular lectures on leadership development, communication, business agility lectures, and more, there is one opportunity that stands out. In cooperation with Stockholm School of Economics in Riga (SSE) our employees are able to attend an Effective Manager Program focusing on topics from productivity and leadership to problem solving and even AI.
Here's what our 2024 graduates had to say about the course!
We create opportunity
One of the most appreciated benefits at Balcia is the personal development and learning budget allocated for each employee every year. This budget can be used in a myriad of ways, as long as you're looking to improve your knowledge and skills that are related to your field of work. You pick – we pay!
Individual qualification training & courses. One of the more popular ways to learn something new nowadays is through online courses, such as udemy, practical courses at local education centers and even entertaining apps that can teach you things on-the-go, such as Duolingo, Brilliant and many more.
Perhaps you're an extrovert interested in attending inspirational conferences and networking events? Tell us when and where! Or maybe you're more of an introvert consuming audiobooks like smoothies on a hot summer day? We've got you! Just this year several Balcia team members took the opportunity to attend and get inspired by experienced speakers at Techchill, Latitude59, Login, Ebit, Novatore and others!
If, however, you're ready to step into the world of academics Balcia's exclusive program offers partial sponsorship (50%) for your advanced academic journey!
We share
Finally, as you might already know, Balcia works with a horizontal hierarchy structure model, meaning we have more peers than managers, and collaboration is where we thrive! In practice this means that our employees are encouraged to work more independently, communicate and generate ideas between themselves. And since every single person comes into this with their own unique experiences and skills, learning from one another happens as organically as breathing!
We believe that anything can be taught, which is why we're looking for enthusiastic and hard-working individuals, who are ready to learn, and not just seasoned insurance experts. If this sounds like you, try work in insurance! See our vacancy page to match your interests with open jobs in insurance.
