Superior Employee Development

The NI Superior Employee Development (SED) program offers employees tools, resources, and opportunities to prepare them for successful careers at NI. Helping to align employee talents with business opportunities and to continually grow their skills, the SED program is a key component in developing people to reach beyond their roles and influence the company’s success.

Continuing Education

NI supports many forms of continuing education for employees. The following list includes examples of the skills management and lifelong learning programs NI provides:

Leadership development for individual contributors, supervisors, managers, and leaders
NI product training and certification
Skills training in the areas of interpersonal skills, the NI vision and mission, technical skills, and team effectiveness
Recommended reading, employee-led book groups, and a lending library
Community board membership for employees who support community organizations through this role
Tuition assistance for US employees while they pursue a job-related degree or course external to NI

Tuition Assistance From NI

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Number of Participating Employees	85	59	52	43	31
Percentage of Total US Employees (%)	3.51	2.31	2.04	1.67	0.87
Assistance Paid by NI (USD)	$401,820.55	$281,617.78	$250,141.68	$201,704.77	$222,319.69
Average Amount per Employee (USD)	$4,727.30	$4,773.18	$4,810.42	$4,690.81	$7,171.60

Hours of All Instructor-Led Training Completed

Region		Category	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Worldwide¹	Total	All	170,843.55	172,435.50	110,488.00	72,791.57	127,176.63
	Average per Employee²	All	35	30	20	10	20
		Exempt³	+	+	20	15	25
		Nonexempt³	+	+	10	5	110
US	Total	All	145,819.04	152,719.20	79,497.80	62,568.07	124,118.21
	Average per Employee²	All	60	65	30	25	35
		Exempt	+	+	30	25	45
		Nonexempt	+	+	20	15	240

¹NI tracks training hours using an internal database. Some NI branch offices do not use that database, so worldwide totals are not comprehensive.

²All averages in this table are rounded to the nearest five.

³In the Worldwide section, totals in the Exempt row include professional employees outside the United States and totals in the Nonexempt row include administrative employees outside the United States.

⁺Averages by employee type are not available for 2007 or 2008.

Employee Performance Reviews

Employees meet with their managers individually for a performance review to receive meaningful, constructive feedback at least on an annual basis. NI estimates that 80 percent of employees in Europe and the United States received performance reviews in 2011, an increase of 11 percent from 2010. NI is working to refine the tracking process to collect data from employees worldwide.

Percent of Employee Performance Reviews Completed¹

2009³	2010³	2011²
60%	72%	80%

¹Estimates are calculated based on the number of performance review forms completed by supervisors and submitted to the human resources department.

²Data is from NI headquarters and Europe only.

³Data is from NI headquarters only.

Scott Studer

NI IT Section Manager

The breadth of leadership classes, book groups, and personal development activities at NI provides a strong and continuous foundation for developing leaders. Scott Studer, NI IT section manager, is a member of the SED Circle of Excellence because of his long history in helping NI employees develop the skills they need to succeed. “I teach Superior Employee Development classes because sustaining the flow of leadership talent enables positive results; new opportunities for exciting careers; and, most importantly, a challenging, fun culture that is built to last!”