University of Washington Human Resources

Our classes, programs, and other events are designed for UW faculty and staff, which includes employees at all three UW campuses, the UW medical centers, and other locations.

Read about the University’s release time policy for staff training and development programs, or visit this UWHR page to learn more about time off during the work day.

Non-UW eligibility requirements and restrictions

Non-UW employees may be enrolled in select quarterly courses and workshops on a space-available basis. Registration from non-UW employees will be accepted no sooner than four weeks prior to the start of a course.

Classes covering fiscal procedures, human resources administration, and other material that relies on access to UW systems are not open to non-UW employees. In addition, non-UW employees cannot receive POD certificates.

Non-UW employees will be charged the listed fee plus 15.6 percent per course due to institutional overhead.

Registration for POD courses requires a UW NetID, available through POD. If you are not affiliated with the UW, please contact us.

Enrollment in courses and other programs is on a first come, first served basis.

Many courses fill quickly. To help ensure that you are able to enroll in your preferred course, register for it as soon as possible. The fastest way to enroll is to use the online POD course catalog.

You may also register by filling out a paper POD registration form and mailing it to us. Once we process the form, we’ll email you an enrollment confirmation if the class has space. If the class is full, we’ll send you an email letting you know that you’re on the waitlist.

Waitlist

The online course catalog shows how many spaces are available and if a class is already full.

If a course is full when you register for it, you will be placed on the waitlist. There is one exception: You cannot be placed on the waitlist if you pay by credit card.

Once you are on the waitlist, we will notify you if a space opens up before the course starts.

Course fees vary. Check the POD course catalog for current fees.

The preferred method of payment is using department payment worktags, which requires the approval of your supervisor or budget coordinator.

If you pay with cash, check, or credit card you will pay an extra 15.6 percent to cover institutional overhead costs as required by the UW Institutional Overhead policy.

If paying by check or cash:

• Don’t register online
• Complete and return the POD Course Registration Form (PDF) to register
• Make personal checks payable to the University of Washington

Checks are processed for payment by creating an electronic funds transfer from your bank. This means that funds will be withdrawn from your bank account using the information on your check. You will not receive your cancelled check back. For more information about the electronic funds transfer, call Student Fiscal Services at 206-543-4649 or email [email protected].

We charge a $25 fee for returned checks.

When registered for a course, event, or other online learning offering that you can’t or don’t attend, you may still be charged the registration fee. You will not be charged if we receive a written cancellation request from you at least eight days prior to the course start date. 

Exceptions: Some offerings, such as Core Strengths Accountability and certain special events, have different refund policies and deadlines. These exceptions will be noted in either the course description or confirmation email. 

To cancel a registration, email [email protected] with your request and course details. You may also mail us a letter or send us a fax. 

We will not issue a refund: 

• If the course starts in seven days or less 
• If the course has already started 
• If you missed the course because you did not receive an email confirmation 
• If the course has a no-refund policy noted in the confirmation email. 

Contact us if you have not received an email confirmation for the course and it is scheduled to start in the next five working days. 

Illness or family emergency

If you are ill or have a family emergency that prevents you from attending a POD course, we will issue you a 50 percent refund.

Request a refund due to illness or family emergency by having your supervisor send us an email that confirms your reason for missing the course. Your supervisor must send us the email within seven days of the final class session.

Inclement weather

We will cancel in-person classes when UW suspends operations, and you will not be charged the registration fee. We will reschedule the class for a later date.

Low enrollment cancellation

We may cancel a course if not enough people enroll to meet the course minimum. If this happens, we will notify you and you will not be charged the registration fee.

Suspended operations due to emergencies

We will communicate via email about any schedule changes for in-person classes and events. We may opt to cancel a class outright or cancel and reschedule, or we may choose to provide the class content in an alternate format, in which case your budget or credit card would still be charged. For instance, we could offer a class online via Zoom, offer pre-recorded modules, and/or offer course content via PDF or interoffice mail.

We will communicate via email about any schedule changes for in-person classes and events. We may opt to cancel a class outright or cancel and reschedule, or we may choose to provide the class content in an alternate format, in which case your budget or credit card would still be charged. For instance, we could offer a class online via Zoom, offer pre-recorded modules, and/or offer course content via PDF or interoffice mail.

If you register for a course and can’t attend, you may be able to send someone else from your department to take your place (some courses don’t allow substitutions). There is no additional fee for sending a substitute, but the substitute must attend the same course on the same day(s) for which you are registered. 

To send a substitute, contact us and provide both your name and UW NetID and your substitute’s name and UW NetID. You can request to send a substitute at any time prior to the first day of the course. 

For live online sessions (such as Zoom sessions) you may request a substitute at least two business days in advance. For self-paced online learning, you may only request a substitute before the specified course launch date. 

You must be present during at least 80 percent of the class time to receive course credit. 

To receive credit for Self-Paced classes, you must complete the corresponding course evaluation at the end of each training.

You cannot substitute life or work experience to receive credit toward certificates, courses, or other training programs. You cannot challenge courses. 

Professional & Organizational Development courses may not be audited.

Make-up sessions and transfers are not allowed.

The Professional Staff Organization offers limited scholarship support for professional staff. For more information please view the PSO web site.

In order to protect the privacy of our participants and the intellectual property of POD and our network of trainers/consultants, recording or capturing of video, audio and/or presentations during an in-person or online class is strictly prohibited, including but not limited to recording or capturing by AI software, bots, cameras and other technology. Noncompliance may result in you being removed from the course and not receiving course credit.

POD’s programs and services are intended to be inclusive and accessible. If at any time you have a need or concern, please contact us. For accommodation requests connected to a disability or health condition, contact us at least two weeks in advance or as soon as possible. Accommodations falling outside the scope of POD’s capabilities will be escalated to the Disability Services Office.

We recommend that you keep a record of all courses and other trainings that you have completed. This includes keeping record of POD courses as well as professional development courses taken elsewhere. Update your record each time you finish a course.

Our system automatically keeps track of the POD courses you’ve taken from summer 2004 to the present. This record includes POD courses only. View your POD training history.