Staff

Personnel Training and Development

Ride Connection offers in-service training opportunities for all employees through all-staff meetings, department meetings and internal trainings. Ride Connection also encourages employee participation in courses, seminars and workshops offered by Ride Connection and other organizations.

Professional Organizations

Ride Connection encourages individuals to participate in professional organizations related to their jobs.

Required Trainings

Drug and Alcohol for Safety Sensitive Personnel

This 60-minute session is designed to meet the requirements mandated by the Department of Transportation for safety sensitive personnel. The goals of this class are to educate the employee of effects and consequences of prohibited drug use on personal health, safety and the work environment and on the signs and symptoms, which may indicate, prohibited drug use. Additional information is distributed on community service help lines for employee assistance.

Drug and Alcohol Reasonable Suspicion Training for Supervisors

This two-hour session is designed to meet the requirements mandated by the Department of Transportation for supervisor training. The goals of this class are to educate the supervisor in the understanding of drug and alcohol regulations that apply to reasonable suspicion testing, to know the physical, behavioral, speech and performance indicators of substance abuse, to be able to approach an employee with your concerns in a professional and rational manner, to complete documentation and initiate reasonable suspicion testing and follow up.

Customer Service Training

This course assists participants in learning specific skills needed to build and improve customer service. Information is provided on communication skills, helpful techniques to use with difficult customers and to better understand the special needs of customers.

The Training department can work with staff to develop training on a variety of topics when the need arises.

RideAlong

Each summer, Ride Connection staff and board join together for the annual "RideAlong". The purpose of the RideAlong is to thank our customers for riding with us. Staff and board members ride along with customers, interact with them, and ask how Ride Connection has helped them keep their mobility and independence. Ride Connection staff and board members have the opportunity to stay more connected with the people we serve, as well as learn about our community providers. We consider this a valuable part of our staff training, because our learning in the field helps us understand service from our customers' viewpoint.