Encouraging Education and Training

Colgate places significant emphasis on education and training in order to meet its business needs and advance the personal development of individual employees. In order to build skills for all 36,000 employees, Colgate offers a global curriculum of more than 150 courses in more than 25 different languages. Courses are taught in the classroom, on the job and through e-learning.

While the training programs cover a wide range of topics, all courses are based on a philosophy that encompasses four main principles: all classes are Colgate-specific; they share best practices; they have a practical work application and they are taught by Colgate leaders who are certified as trainers after completing professional training courses. Overall, employees complete an average of 40 hours of training per year.

Colgate people enroll in courses specific to their needs, which are identified for each function on Colgate's Intranet system. Some, such as "Valuing Colgate People," are mandatory for all, while others are required based on job functions. A wide range of elective courses offer leadership development courses, general business courses and more technical programs in the areas of finance, human resources, marketing, research and development, information technology, sales and health and safety.

One new course addition is "Personal Creativity for Innovation," an interactive workshop available to all employees. The course, designed to drive innovation throughout the organization and across many different business situations and all functional areas, provides participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to develop an environment that fosters creativity to nurture new ideas.