On-going employee training and development is critical to the success of our company. Pinnacle West offers employees excellent opportunities for career and employee development training. This includes numerous internal training opportunities as well as external training and tuition reimbursement for formal college and university training. 

The company has created an internal training organization called Pinnacle West University, which offers more than 1,100 online courses covering business topics relevant to our industry and specific disciplines. Courses range in topic from safety to ethics to diversity and are available to employees with Internet access from the office or home.

Full-time Staff Dedicated to Providing Training, Development and Consulting Services
The company has more than 124 full-time professional staff members dedicated to providing engineering, craft, trade, technical, customer service, professional, business practices, environmental, health and safety training and individual and team development. The ratio is one full-time professional for every 50 employees.

Dedicated Training Facilities and Resources
The company has six dedicated training facilities which include a plant-specific nuclear control room training simulator; other power plant operations simulators; maintenance, electrical, instrumentation, chemistry, customer service, line worker and other technical training laboratories and equipment mock-ups. Employees have access to fully-equipped classrooms for instructor-led as well as computer-based training. The company also provides online business and information technology "referenceware" and courses that are accessible to employees at work or at home, 24-hours-a-day.

Significant Dollar Investment
The company spends more than $30 million annually for facilities, staff, materials, supplies, tuition, fees and travel to provide training and development for its employees. This is an average of more than $4,800 per employee. This figure does not include cost of the participants’ time spent in training and development activities.

Accredited, Certified Training Programs

• Eleven nuclear training programs are accredited by the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO)
• Six craft apprenticeship programs meet state certification requirements
• Environmental, health and safety training programs meet and exceed requirements of the Occupational, Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Transportation (DOT) and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)

Formal Training Requirements

• All employees are required to complete annual ethics, safety, environmental and business practices training, averaging four hours per employee. Training completion is tracked and reported
• Approximately 70 percent of the company’s employees work in highly specialized craft, operations, technical, engineering, and customer service positions and have annual job specific training requirements. These training requirements range in duration from 16 to 400 hours annually, for an average of 46 hours of annual continuing training per employee in these job groups. Training completion is tracked and reported

Formal Development Processes

• The company has a formal succession planning processes. Succession planning development plans are directed by a panel comprised of the CEO and the executive vice-presidents for officers and candidates to officer positions. Succession planning development plans for senior managers and candidates to senior management positions are directed by panels comprised of executive vice-presidents, vice-presidents and appropriate senior managers.
• The company has formal leadership development processes:
  • Employees have access to an e-Learning system which can assist them in identifying their aptitude and/or interest in becoming a leader
  • Once an employee is identified to fill a leadership role he or she is provided with additional e-Learning and in person training opportunities. First-time leaders are provided with courses covering leadership, communication, performance management, and business skills which prepares them for their formal leadership role. Leaders receive ongoing communications on leadership development topics and business relevant materials throughout the year
  • All company leaders at the manager level and above participate in three to four Leadership Forums per year, to stay focused on the company’s business direction, results and challenges
  • Each business unit executive directs an annual program for his or her leaders to address changes in management, culture, and human-performance improvement issues unique to the business unit
• The company has formal employee development processes:
  • The company provides an educational assistance program for employees seeking college credit or degrees. Employees are reimbursed 80 percent of tuition upon successful completion of a course. Within the annual limit of $5,000, employees may also be reimbursed the remaining 20 percent of tuition costs upon successful completion of a degree
  • Performance Review (non-union) employees receive an annual performance plan, which includes identification of learning and development objectives. Approximately 70 percent of the company’s employees are performance review