Current and future employees of Cook Medical will be able to further their education at no cost, Cook Group announced Friday.
The program, called "My Cook Pathway," will allow employees to earn their Indiana High School Equivalency Diploma (formerly the GED) while working part time at Cook, at no cost to the employee. Upon completion of the program and demonstrated success in a part-time role, that employee will be offered a full-time position with benefits.
The initiative is a partnership with Ivy Tech Community College-Bloomington and Monroe County Community School Corp. adult education at Broadview Learning Center. It was announced Friday during a luncheon in the Cook Pavilion on Ivy Tech's campus.
"I think it's critical as a company and as a community we do everything that we can to support people who want to go down the pathway of continuing their education," said Pete Yonkman, president of Cook Medical and Cook Group.
Yonkman said that in southwest-central Indiana, more than 29,000 adults age 18-64 do not have a high school diploma or equivalency, with more than 5,000 of those calling Monroe County home. More than 730,000 Hoosiers have some college education but have not completed a degree, according to the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.
Yonkman said the company previously would not consider applicants who lacked at least a high school diploma. The education initiative now will make that segment of the workforce available to Cook for employment.
"At Cook, we know that we're going to retain and attract thousands of employees right here if we're going to be successful. So for us, as we look forward, we know that it's going to be critical that we have a highly trained, highly educated workforce right here in Indiana," Yonkman said.