Business
A Personal Business Plan: Verizon and Verizon’s TAP
My personal business plan takes into account the dreams I have for the future based on goals I have set for myself concerning my education and work experience. Focusing on a personal business plan has given me an opportunity to explore the opportunities that the Verizon Company offers for employees. I am particularly interested in Verizon because the company offers not only tuition payment assistance but also a career path that allows promotions from the lower level to the highest level. This is the way I can move from an entrance position and work my way to the top employee level. Verizon is one of the companies offering tuition reimbursements for employees that plan a future career at Verizon. These are called Tuition Assistance Programs (TAP). Landes (2012) has commented on Forbes Online that some companies offer this valuable benefit in their benefit package: “a free education” (forbes.com). Landes (2012) discussed a company where he formerly worked that “would pay 90 percent of all costs” for a bachelor’s degree from any department, pay 90 percent of costs for a master’s degree in the employee’s specific focus area and also support employees so they could achieve job-related certification (forbes.com). Landis took advantage of the opportunity to achieve his MBA degree. Each company has restrictions such as a sliding scale for the amount of reimbursement depending on the grade or the employee must commit to a certain length of time working at the company. White (n.d.) has written a list of companies that offer employees monetary support for college. White’s list includes high tech, health care, agribusiness, and even the cereal company, General Mills. Verizon is also included on the list.
Many large and well-known companies offer their employees some type of employee tuition assistance program or variation on continuing education. White (n.d.) noted that by law the companies are not supposed to pay for everything, there is a $5,250 cap on the tax-free portion can legally pay. White (n.d.) also notes though that some companies also pay the taxes for their employee. The Communication Workers Union 1105 (in Pennsylvania) at Verizon offers a web page of hotline telephone numbers that union members need. It includes the number for more information about the tuition reimbursements and related issues. That points to a feature that I like; the TAP has been shown to work at Verizon and has the support of the labor union. Throughout the country I have noticed that labor unions are coordinating with companies for tuition reimbursements. Tuitions have become so high that these types of benefits are very important to families with students pursuing a degree in higher education.
Biography
I live and work in the state of Pennsylvania. The purpose of writing up my business and educational business plan is to put down on paper how to reach those goals. I really have two objectives. Those are to reach my career goals and my educational goals at the same time. That means I am designing two parallel plans so that I can accomplish my professional goals as efficiently as possible. I know that by planning my work career and my educational plan over the same period, that when I begin working at Verizon I will have a good foundation for helping me move up the Verizon career ladder. I am a good worker and a fast learner so I am sure once I am hired I will be a good employee. The important thing for me now is to be able to build up my credentials so I will have a strong resume. Last year I made a transition from one industry to the wireless communication industry. I believe with my business background and my work experience I will have the important core foundation necessary to pursue a leadership and/or management position within Verizon. I also think that my resume will show that Verizon can count on me to be a valuable employee.
Short Term Goals and Objectives
I have learned that it is very difficult to obtain a position with Verizon Wireless as a minor. So I decided to be satisfied with using this next year to get a good foundation in retail sales. Then I can continue my career plans by moving into a retail sales position at Verizon when I qualify. I need another five years to obtain my Ph.D. degree from Walden University. My educational goal is to gain a Ph.D. in Leadership and Organization or a Doctoral Business Administration (DBA) degree.
Long Term Goals and Objectives
Verizon has many different great benefits for their employees. For students they not only offer tuition reimbursements, but also internships. This is one of the reasons I am interested in the company. Also I want to make the communications industry my profession. Verizon has a very good reputation. I have confidence from doing my research for this plan that Verizon is a good company.
I have thought about how my long term goals could also be an advantage for Verizon. For example, along with working as a Retail Sales Consultant I could facilitate training courses and/or training seminars because of my work background, work experience and my education level. Ultimately I would like to become a Verizon Wireless Director of Marketing, Business to Business (B2B), Director of Retail Sales, or Director of Training. All of these positions are positions I could hold with confidence especially after accomplishing my business and educational goals. I have mapped out the plan I have for reaching my top professional position.
The first step is the position of Retail Sales Associate, then the following promotions will be necessary: Assistant Store Manager, Store Manager, District Manager, Assistant Director then the position of Director. This plan will take a lot of hard work and many years to accomplish. Especially because I am working on reaching my educational goal of graduating with a Ph.D. at the same time I am working my way to the top. I envision my focus areas to be in professional business, leadership organization, team building, and training which all complement each other. I also have already started pursuing this focus with my background in sales negotiation and learning how to use the Lean Six Sigma.
Enhancing Personal Goals with Ph.D.
A Ph.D. would be very helpful to enable me to reach my personal goals as I have expressed in this business plan. A Ph.D. would give me the knowledge and the confidence I need to be a competent professional in a position of leadership or management. The experience of study and research that will be necessary in order to graduate with a Ph.D. will be a valuable experience in helping understand not only the most recent developments in communications but also in helping understand how to work with people. The other characteristic that I will develop by writing a Ph.D. dissertation will be that of self-discipline and staying focused on finishing a project with a deadline.
Value and Benefits to Verizon
Weiss (n.d.) is the editor of Learning Executive Briefing. She wrote an article from the corporate point of view discussing why Verizon tuition reimbursements are good investments. This strategy is a good investment because of how quickly communication technology changes. Verizon seems 100 percent committed to their TAP.
I believe that my long term goals go well with Verizon’s mission and that my plan also benefits Verizon. I feel this way because by giving me tuition assistance while I learn my Ph.D. I will become a more valuable employee. In the short term I will need only a short period for training because I will already have a lot of hands-on experience in the wireless industry.
I will also be able to offer long term benefits to Verizon in order to make the tuition reimbursement valuable to the Verizon Wireless Company. Weiss (n.d.) has discussed Verizon’s commitment to learning because it “values and promotes continuous learning” and Verizon offers “a large number of internal training programs.” I will have gained the necessary knowledge so that I will be able to teach leadership classes within the Verizon
Company. I will also have the skills to be able to teach courses to all levels of the sales team. Those levels include sales associates, assistant managers, retail store managers and other employees within the Verizon Wireless family, not only in Pennsylvania but in other parts of the country as well.
Conclusion
Researching the opportunities the Verizon TAP offer has made me very excited with my business plan. I also feel more confident that I can accomplish my goals. I have found out that I can use the CWA as a valuable partner for any questions or problems that may arise while involved in the TAP or afterwards. Also I have learned that Verizon Wireless recognizes how many benefits the program brings the company too. These benefits include less turnover and faster promotions. Walton (n.d.) reported that TAP led to a 50 percent decrease in turnover rate and that almost all of the participants planned to remain at Verizon for at least two years after graduating. These are results that are also important to employees. I know that I feel a lot better with a plan to work at a stable company. I also know that I will need to work while I study but I will have less of a burden then most students. I would not be able to reach my dream of a Ph.D. in leadership, management or business without having some outside support. The college and university tuitions have increased so much even during the time I was in high school that I would not be able pursue further education without some program like TAP. The stress and worry about paying back the loans would make concentrating on studies very difficult. I’m glad that the TAP at Verizon has been in existence long enough to show great results. As far as I am concerned it is the best recruitment tool for attracting employees that I know about.
References
Communication Workers of America (CWA). Hotline numbers Verizon, in Pennsylvania http://www.cwa1105.org/hotlines.php
Landes, L. (2012 July 20). Tuition reimbursement: A benefit for some employees and employers. Forbes Online. Personal Finance Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/moneybuilder/2012/07/20/tuition-reimbursement-a-benefit-for-some-employees-and-employers/
Verizon tuition assistance plan for associate employees (VZ TAP). Communication Workers of America (CWA). Retrieved from http://www.cwa-1102.org/TAP_Policies.pdf
Walton, P. (2010). Talent retention and development through postsecondary attainment, Verizon Wireless. Corporate Voices for Working Families. Retrieved from http://www.corporatevoices.org/system/files/Verizon+Wireless+EL+Edits.pdf
Weiss, R.P. (n.d.). Maximizing the value of tuition assistance programs. HC Exchange, Inside Story, Retrieved from https://hcexchange.conference-board.org/attachment/051217-May_LXB-5.pdf
White, M. (n.d.) Companies that help employees pay for college. Lovetoknow.com Retrieved from http://college.lovetoknow.com/Companies_That_Help_Employees_Pay_for_College
