This conversation blows me away. First let me say that I have fallen under this type agreement when I was a field tech and today (as an owner) I have the agreement in place with my employee's.
Training staff (field or any other) is not a charitable act. As an owner I spend money so my staff can be taughted new skills. These skills will be something they can take with them to any future posistion. These skills willl directly effect their future value, but again it is not charity. It is at its heart a very simple contract.
So why as an owner to I spend so much money on training? So that I can also utilize that skill! To untilize that new skill though I need two things, time and interest.
I need the employee to have enough interest to participate in the learning process. Enough to practice this skill and become proficient. Last enough interest to share this skill with coworkers.
The other item I need for this contract to be fair is time. I need the employee to stay with my company long enough to practice, become proficient and share this new skill. A year is not long enough to do this for most skills but frankly our society dosen't feel that a longer period is fair to the employee (except of course in the exceptions I mention below)
If an employee doesn’t give me their interest or time then they simply are not living up to their end of the bargain. In its most basic form they have broken a contract with my company and should have to pay for part (if not all) of the training.
In the case of our company we pay for training in full as long as you get the equivalent of a “B”. If an employee gets a “C” the company only pays for 90%, “D” we pay for 80%, and if you fail the program we will not pay a penny. This simple system helps to assure the employee does their part by maintaining interest during the training.
After training is done the employee needs to stay with us for a year. If the employee leaves by their choice then they owe the company the full value of the training. Simply put they can take the training and use it for the rest of their lives but they owe for it.
In closing let me say that I did not make this system up, I borrowed it from my first employer. The United States Army. Every one of our military branches have a similar system. You might also find that there is another contract simular to this in marriage.
I am not sure how anyone can say it is unfair.