Designing and Managing Tuition Assistance Programs for Your Company
Investing in talent development is non-negotiable in the business world today. For many years, talent acquisition was the focus of HR departments and annual budgets. How does a business acquire the most talented individuals on the market?
Today’s environment is dramatically different. Personnel are specialized, in-house software and systems are bespoke, and competition is so fierce that even the most seasoned workers need significant orientation. For this reason, a well-managed tuition assistance program is central to success.
Education benefits—now a nearly ubiquitous offering—are often implemented ineffectively. Many organizations see their mere existence as the solution to several poorly-defined problems. Only when employed strategically do education benefits function as intended. For most companies, the goal of tuition reimbursement is to:
- Incentivize employees to grow in their roles
- Retain talented individuals
- Improve job performance
- Create smooth succession as boomers leave the workforce
- Boost employee morale and loyalty
While simple on the surface, these goals require detail-driven administration and tracking in order to bear fruit. With only 48% of employers saying that education benefits were explicitly aligned to strategic goals, the need to micro-manage these tuition assistance benefits is evident.
It serves the employee to offer effective benefits. With 84% of Gen-Xer’s and Millenials reporting that education benefits impacted their decision to take a job, the pressure to make these benefits work is high. In fact, a poorly run education benefits program exposes a company to huge risk. The cost of turnover is high, it is easier than ever to damage brand reputation in today’s competitive marketplace, and the caustic nature of a disaffected or poorly resourced staff can cause lasting damage.
It’s crucial for employers to look not just at the $5250 per-employee tax write off that education benefits can supply. Employees are looking for an honest investment in their financial stability and that means strategic thinking on the part of management. Most talented candidates in the marketplace have already invested heavily in their education in order to stay competitive. It’s paramount that an employer match that level of interest in their career goal to create a lasting and mutually beneficial relationship.
Achieving these goals is no easy feat. Asking executive leadership and HR to correspond in a productive, efficient way is already a big lift. That’s why there exists an education concierge to take some of the burden off of a business’s in-house team. Clear Degree is the partner that the 9 out of 10 organizations that offer education benefits are looking for. Clear Degree assesses the individual needs of employees, develops a degree plan to meet their organizations requirements and strategic goals, and presents cost effective options. There is no one-size-fits-all option with Clear Degree. In a world where outcomes matter most, presenting multiple avenues to success for individuals and businesses alike is the utmost priority of the world’s most reliable education benefits partner.