How Flexible Education Benefits Engage Employees

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.

Tia Miceli, a senior manager of Partner Success at Sophia, recently shared the advantages of providing non-degree learning options to employees as part of an education benefits package.

Exploring options beyond degree programs

For learners who do not yet feel ready for the full commitment of a traditional degree program, Miceli recommends that employers provide access to something else: an on-demand, self-paced learning platform.

“Learners can dip their toe back into the pool of higher education,” Miceli says. “They have some freedom in exploring what might interest them, whether that is going back to school or accelerating their career. Maybe it's learning a little bit more about a specific topic or subject area that could develop into a different career path.”

Miceli sees employers asking themselves how they might empower and build their leadership pipelines from within. Non-degree offerings can be a great place to start. Developing the people who already work for your company is a key method for building an engaged workforce, filled with people who see their personal career growth as connected to company success.

Sophia: a self-paced, on-demand course platform

“Sophia gives learners confidence,” Miceli says of the learning platform that offers learners access to 60+ flexible, online courses at the college level. Courses are designed to transfer to many colleges and universities.

“Sophia puts learners in charge of their career trajectory while also allowing their employer to retain employees. People don’t have to leave to get experience. They don’t have to leave to get an education. They are offered those things through Sophia.”

With courses in accounting, finance, project management, IT, business law, communication, and web development, Sophia offers courses directly applicable to areas of an employer’s business. By offering employees access to those courses, employers demonstrate their commitment to employee career growth.

Sophia also offers learners courses more aligned with traditional general education requirements. Employees can start learning with Sophia, complete their courses, and eventually transfer those courses to a university*, including one of the 60+ partner universities that work directly with Sophia.

 *Students should connect with their academic advisors to determine whether their school accepts Sophia courses as transfer credit.

“With Sophia, employers open access to career growth for the entire employee pool. You’re building leadership pipelines, and hopefully, also retaining your employees for a long time.”

Miceli says that some B2B partners work with Sophia to make their employees aware that the platform exists. Learners then pay a $99/month subscription cost to access Sophia’s full catalog. Other B2B partners are covering the full cost of employee access to Sophia.

“Sophia is truly flexible. Learners don’t have to choose between work and going back to school. Sophia allows you to do both,” Miceli says. “Offering Sophia as an education benefit says to employees, ‘We hear you. We value you. We don’t want you to leave.’ That can increase loyalty, engagement, and retention across an employee population.” 

How employers can leverage back-to-school season in promoting benefits

In early fall, going back to school is top of mind for many employees, especially those with school-aged children. When promoting education benefits, it can be helpful to remind employees that these offerings exist in August and September. Miceli says she has worked with partners to develop testimonial campaigns distributed through a series of eblasts.

“This time of year is also a typical time for midyear reviews. As employers have conversations with employees that help them know where they stand, offering Sophia as a skill-building platform can help employees on the path toward growth.”

How employees perceive non-degree benefits like Sophia

For learners who have taken some time away from the classroom, Miceli sees Sophia as an accessible way back into higher education.

“Sophia offers a certain psychological safety. With a degree, there’s a lot of pressure. And some education benefits can be complex. Sophia cuts through the noise. We say to learners, ‘Come in. Take the courses that interest you. Take as many or as few as you want. Do it all on your time.’ What we’ve heard from learners is that as they’ve taken more Sophia courses, their perception of their learning and self-efficacy has improved tremendously, eventually giving them the confidence to go back to school and pursue a degree.”

Miceli says that employees who identify a knowledge gap see Sophia as a safe place to fill that gap.

“With Sophia, you can craft your path in a way that fits your life and your goals. You can make it meaningful for you while trying something new. And if you try a course and decide it’s not for you, there’s no loss. You can just drop into another course.” For learners who already have some experience in an area, Miceli notes that Sophia courses are competency-based education. Learners with experience can progress more quickly.

“With Sophia, you can craft your path in a way that fits your life and your goals. You can make it meaningful for you while trying something new.”

“Sophia lets you explore new avenues so you can grow as both a person and as an employee in your career. And people love Sophia courses. Sophia students who have completed our courses give them 4.7/5 stars. We hear from Sophia learners that the courses break down barriers they didn’t even know they had.”

To explore learning options for your team, contact a Workforce Edge specialist today.