Forcing employees to take exams/certifications

[GrumpyTwig]

Wonder if anyone can shed light on something.

If an employer were to tell employees they HAVE to work towards passing an examination of some kind as part of their performance development AND if failed they risk losing any potential bonus but the employee had to pay for the examination out of their pocket...

is that legal? Given none of that is documented in their contract?

It's just something that was announced as potentially going ahead with me and some colleagues. It's more the having to pay out of our own pocket to meet company goals that seems a little... dodgy.

[GrumpyTwig]

TurricanII said:

Do you work in IT? If they are Prometric exams then they cost £100 a pop - not too bad IMO. For junior staff I think it is reasonable to link pay with qualification, but I would pay for the course material (to be shared between all staff) and the first attempt at an exam. As staff reach £30k per annum then I would expect them to deal with their own personal development or make a case for the company to buy expensive tools/training material.

Yes but no they aren't that cheap sadly and there's no link to any pay increases as a result, the exams differ per person so for me it's potentially one or more RedHat courses that in reality I'd intended to do anyway.... so it's not SO much of an issue for me. I spent years in software and have been building up a basis in the enterprise/hardware/networking env. so it's just part of stepping up for me.

It's more the principle of the company trying to force people to spend their own money on company targets, as there's no real immediate benefit to the individuals (unless you count looking much better to other employers) in a lot of cases and no mention of benefit or return to the individual beyond the company gaining a lot of certified employees.

I just wondered if it was legal without prior consultation with employees i.e. it being chosen by the employees.