Resources: Incumbent Worker Training

Incumbent worker training (IWT) under WIOA provides both workers and employers with the opportunity to build and maintain a quality workforce and increase both participants’ and companies’ competitiveness.

It is a type of work-based training and upskilling designed to ensure that employees of a company can acquire the skills necessary to retain employment and advance within the company, or to acquire the skills necessary to avert a layoff.

Incumbent worker training is responsive to the special requirements of an employer or a group of employers in partnership with other entities for the purposes of delivering training to:

• Help avert potential layoffs of employees, or
• Increase the skill levels of employees so they can be promoted within the company and create backfill opportunities for the employers.

Local workforce development boards (WDBs) can use up to 20 percent of their adult and dislocated worker allocations to provide for the federal share of the cost of providing Incumbent Worker training. Generally, the employer selects and procures the training provider, although LWDBs may help identify training providers, such as those on the Eligible Training Provider List (ETPL).

Eligibility and funding requirements can be found here: WIOA Desk Reference by Workforce GPS.