Workforce Edge Blog

When you’re enrolling in a new degree or structured learning program, knowing the ins and outs of financial aid, including tuition assistance, can help you a lot in the long run.

During a company’s annual open enrollment period, employees are alert and engaged about their benefits program. They are asked to review and perhaps adjust their health and welfare benefit elections. Without distracting them from actions they must take, open enrollment can also be a great time to market other benefit offerings, including education benefits, which can be mutually beneficial for both employees and organizations.

Teresa Sebert, Senior Director, Total Rewards, at Strategic Education, Inc., recently discussed open enrollment and how education benefits can be part of the wider conversation about employees’ options.

For today’s talent managers, education benefit policies should be viewed as more than just documents—they're strategic tools for successful organizations and a simple way to retain the best employees. To stay ahead, you must evolve these policies continuously. Let's explore actionable steps to create policies that drive growth and inclusivity as well as support career path development.

In the ever-changing, post-pandemic world, supporting administrative professionals is critical. For many, the pandemic highlighted widening skill gaps, which led to a renewed focus on developing talent. Leveraging educational benefits to fill these gaps and engage our administrative staff can lead to more resilient, adaptable, and accomplished professionals. Angela Elliott, an HR manager at Hormel Foods, recently shared her insights into supporting admin professionals through educational benefits.

Jonathan Kennedy, Senior Chef Tournant at Caesars’ Vanderpump à Paris Restaurant, is pursuing his Bachelor of Business Administration through Strayer University with support from his employer. Jonathan recently spoke about his experiences using Workforce Edge and what it’s been like to be a working adult pursuing additional education.

As a major food retailer, Food Lion prioritizes the personal growth and professional development of its associates, including providing support for their educational interests.

Ardent Health Services implemented a tuition assistance management tool to give employees a variety of professional development opportunities. Read more here.

The end of summer and beginning of fall have traditionally been a time for learners to go back to school. For working adults who may be enrolled in online programs, this remains true-and organizations across industries are seeing an uptick in education benefits use at a time that correlates with benefit open enrollment.

Going back to school can make all the difference in your career journey. Kudos to you for thinking about making the leap. Continuing your education and upskilling by earning a degree or certificate is a great way to boost your value in the workforce and progress in your career.

Education benefits can be a compelling tool to help organizations attract and retain talented, motivated employees. Many companies provide these benefits often in the form of tuition assistance, access to discounted degree programs, non-degree training opportunities, and more. But some organizations struggle to effectively communicate the details and value of what they offer. 

Implementing any new piece of software can be complicated, particularly in companies with a relatively large workforce. But in the Great Resignation landscape of recruitment and retention challenges, employers are evaluating the advantages of offering an education benefit to their employees—as well as what that implementation might entail.

Offering education benefits can be a great way to support your employees’ goals. It can also help you attract and retain an engaged workforce while developing individual and overall capacity to contribute to your organization.

Education can play a key role in helping learners achieve their career ambitions. This can be especially true for women, regardless of the stage of their careers, from those who are just starting out to those who hold C-suite roles within their organizations.

Two professors at the Jack Welch Management Institute (JWMI) - Kathryn Armstrong and Linda Miller - recently shared their insights into the impact education can have, particularly MBA degree programs.

Information technology and cybersecurity are fields that contain many opportunities for adult learners. Opportunities are available for those who are just starting their careers, those who are further along, and those who have many years of experience.

Maria Weber, M.S., director, cybersecurity at Saint Louis University (SLU) recently discussed her career in both education and IT and the benefits of pursuing degrees and certifications, particularly for women.

Expanding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is a goal that aligns with the mission of many colleges and universities. DEI is also front of mind for many employers as they explore new ways to support the goals of their team.

Nicole Morris, senior dean of the Strayer University College of Arts and Sciences, recently discussed her career in education, her work with Strayer, and the ways that Strayer supports students, particularly those from diverse backgrounds.

When veterans decide to enter the civilian workforce, they may consider adding additional education credentials as a boost to their resumes. Online education can be a helpful tool to help make this transition smoother, for a variety of reasons: 

In the current job market, many workers are shifting or changing careers at a rapid rate. It’s a time, particularly for women, to reassess their goals and explore what other jobs might be a good fit.

If you’re looking at where to get your degree and historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) aren’t on your list of possibilities, you may want to reconsider. HBCUs offer high-quality education in a supportive environment. If you’re interested in a top-notch education that’s affordable and offers diversity and community, look no further.

Many organizations approach DEI initiatives similarly; they make efforts to diversify candidate pools, form employee resource groups, and create intentional recruiting pipelines. But education and upskilling should also be central to a company’s DEI efforts.

The Great Resignation may have faded from the headlines, but employers are still dealing with big recruitment and retention challenges. Whether it’s employees who “quietly quit” while searching for their next role or others who decide to resign without a backup plan, the current job market remains in a state of flux.

As we celebrate International Women’s Month, it’s no secret that gender inequality can cause gaps in pay and advancement. “Historically, women have had difficulty acceding to positions of leadership in the workplace,” says Constance St. Germain, Ed.D, provost and senior vice president of academic affairs at Capella University.

In today’s competitive business world, education benefits are more than a perk—they are a key strategy for creating a positive work environment. Subject matter experts across industries have shared how education benefits have shaped their careers and their organizations. Read on for 10 ways education benefits can transform workplaces into more engaging, inclusive, and productive environments.

Back-to-school season often inspires people to consider furthering their education. But for many employees, pursuing a degree program is a major step. Some might feel intimidated. Others might not need a four-year degree to acquire the skills to level up in their careers. For these situations, education benefits that focus on building skills rather than achieving a specific degree can fill the gap. Employees can build skills or lay the groundwork for a future educational goal. And employers can benefit from a more engaged workforce that is continually growing in the value they add to the company.

Today’s retail environment includes high levels of turnover; employees are looking to grow their careers in new ways. To adapt, many employers have used cross-training as a tool to support their teams’ ambitions, provide avenues for growth, and bolster their retention efforts.

The computer science industry evolves quickly, and employers who keep up on the emerging trends may find they have increased success in recruiting and retaining top talent. 

Instructors at coding bootcamp providers like Devmountain and Hackbright Academy, both part of Strayer University, work with the computer science professionals of tomorrow each day. Scott Sutherland, an instructor at Devmountain, and Ray Traina, an instructor at Hackbright Academy, recently shared the shifts they’re seeing in the computer science field. 

When a company offers an education benefit, they send an important message to current and future employees: they care about the continued development of their team. When a healthcare professional feels that their company invests in their future, they may be more likely to stay with the company longer and grow their career. Marquand (Marq) Brown, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, vice president human resources and chief people officer at Oswego Health, recently shared his insights into the importance of developing healthcare professionals through continued education.

April is Career Administrative Professionals Month, a time to celebrate the hardworking administrative professionals everywhere who keep organizations running. Angela Elliott, an HR manager with Hormel Foods, recently explained how administrative professionals can pursue higher education and further their careers with support from tools like Workforce Edge.

For a constantly evolving workforce, the start of a new year means new opportunities for learning and development. A new year can also bring new trends to the forefront as businesses across industries explore ways to grow their teams’ potential.

Here are some learning and development trends to stay aware of throughout 2024.

Education benefits through tuition assistance or reimbursement can help improve employee retention due to increased job satisfaction and more. Check out the full list here.

Baptist Health, a Kentucky-based health system with nine hospitals and more than 23,000 employees, has made healthy work environments a top priority. To aid in their efforts, they’ve partnered with Workforce Edge to provide solutions and connect their employees with learning and development opportunities.

Nurse burnout. Compassion fatigue. Early retirement. These issues and more are straining our health care system and causing leaders to rethink how they can better support their nursing teams.

Ashley Young, Benefits Manager at Raising Cane’s, leads the organization’s benefits and leave of absence initiative, which focuses on holistic support for Raising Cane’s crewmembers. This strategic support includes education benefits, which led to the partnership with Workforce Edge.

With its Workforce Edge portal launching in March 2021, RS Group (formerly Allied Electronics) has used the platform for more than a year. Through it, the company manages its education benefits while minimizing the hands-on work done by their HR department.

During Pride Month and beyond, it’s helpful to spotlight employee resource groups (ERGs) and the role they play in organizations throughout the country.

As a provider of gen ed courses, Sophia can be useful for learners who want to finish their bachelor’s degrees fast. The platform offers flexible, self-paced content, and because courses are designed to transfer to many colleges and universities, Sophia can help students earn their degrees fast while potentially saving money.

As adult college students continue to balance work and school, online learning opportunities have become more abundant, especially with advances in AI technology. Here’s a look back at top online learning trends of 2023.

Unlike traditional academic degrees, short-form learning programs provide training in less than a year. These programs are a good option for employees who want to quickly gain in-demand skills. For those specifically interested in exploring a career in tech, coding bootcamps such as Hackbright Academy and Devmountain can be the start of a meaningful new path. And employers who offer this kind of learning opportunity can retain their current employees while recruiting a talented, diverse workforce.

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology once seemed like something out of a science-fiction movie. Now, they’ve become more common than ever, including in academic environments.