Big companies pay for college, but money isn’t everything

CNBC Workforce Wire 02 October 2021

Major employers of low-wage workers in the United States have made the right decision to offer tuition payment upfront for those who want to go back to school, as reimbursement programmes placed a financial burden on employees. But education experts are concerned too much focus on money misses many of the other reasons workers don’t go back to school, writes Eric Rosenbaum for CNBC Workforce Wire.

The history of employer-sponsored education is one marked by low participation rates, and more data on improvement in uptake will be key to judging these efforts, but knee-jerk scepticism about corporate intentions won’t help employees succeed, the experts say.

Amazon, Walmart, Target and McDonald’s are among the companies now offering various ways for their employees to obtain an education for free. It’s not a new idea in the world of employee benefits – employer-sponsored education has a history that goes back decades. But the education programmes for low-wage workers are receiving more focus as the companies promote them in a tight labour market, and that inevitably has led to scepticism about who benefits more: employer or employee?
Full report on the CNBC site

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