By Michael Souza
PBN Staff Writer

At Kahn, Litwin, Renza & Co., employee training has been one of the company’s strengths for years.

“We put a lot of emphasis on education and training,” said Alan Litwin, managing director of the certified public-accounting and business-consulting firm, which has offices in Boston, Newport, Providence and Waltham, Mass. “When we recruit for people to work here, we find that they are very career-oriented and want to work here. They want to have the opportunity to continue to learn and not just in technical areas either.”

Rapidly changing technology is transforming the workplace, requiring employees to learn new systems and increasing the need for skilled positions. That’s why there is a growing trend of companies investing in their workers, providing technical and personal training. Both parties profit in the arrangement, as employees are given the opportunity to develop professionally and personally and companies reap the benefits of better-educated workers.

In many cases turnover rates are reduced, a reflection that employees are happy – and more productive – at their job.

Kahn runs “KLR University,” an in-house training program that has a curriculum of 80 different courses. Some classes are technical while others, such as “Learning to Deal with Conflict,” have less to do with financial services.

Classes are offered from May to December because tax season is simply too busy. “We have a committee that decides the curriculum for the next calendar year, what the topics will be and who will teach them,” said June Landry, director of marketing. “We are constantly thriving to provide the education people are looking for in their own personal career development.”

Litwin said that it has been a very difficult hiring environment in the accounting industry, but he is confident the educational opportunity his company provides helps attract new employees. “We have excellent personnel retention and very little turnover,” he said.