Caesars Entertainment Goes All-In On Education with Workforce Edge

After a blockbuster merger, Caesars Entertainment decided to go All-In On Education – by using Workforce Edge, a technology-enabled platform from Strategic Education, Inc. See how Caesars and Workforce Edge partnered to create a contemporary, simplified, and powerful education benefits program that helps Team Members transform their lives.  

Caesars seizes the opportunity for a fresh start  

In 2020, Caesars Entertainment – already a giant in the gaming and entertainment industry – merged with Eldorado Resorts. The new Caesars organization boasted a portfolio of properties from Las Vegas to Atlantic City, Mississippi to California. Today, it’s the largest gaming company in the United States, with more than 20 internationally known brands, 50 world-class resorts and more than 50,000 employees.  

Bringing together multiple brands and locations also meant bringing together multiple employee tuition assistance programs, each with its own rules, policies, and benefits. This breadth of offerings illustrated Caesars’ deep commitment to education, but the programs themselves were unwieldy, outdated, and difficult for employees to navigate.  

"With 15 reimbursement programs, we found it difficult in terms of administration, consistency and automation,” says Nichole Radcliff, Caesars Entertainment enterprise director of learning and development. “Here it was, 2020, and we had Team Members faxing in forms that they had to get signed by a manager.” 

At the newly expanded Caesars organization, leaders saw an opportunity to evolve the education benefit. 

Ambitious goals for a reimagined program 

Education had long been important at Caesars, as education is a fundamental pillar of the employee value proposition. It was part of a multi-pronged strategy to support employee growth: going All-In On Education, All-In On Development, and All-In On Leadership. As part of this endeavor, the company set ambitious goals for its revamped education benefit offering:

Create a best-in-class program. Caesars wanted to set a new bar for the gaming, retail, and hospitality industries. 

Provide benefits to all employees. It was important to company leaders that the new program be open to everyone at every level – full time to part time, frontline to managerial – at every location. Not only would this be a powerful recruitment and retention tool, but it would be a big step toward greater inclusivity and opportunity. “There are layers of challenges and layers of difficulty that … a large subset [of our employees] struggle with,” says Tonika Quick, enterprise vice president of talent development. “And we wanted to make sure that we were providing an opportunity to knock down a lot of those barriers.”  

Create a culture of learning. Caesars wanted to ensure employee growth and development would always be part of the company’s DNA. 

Boost engagement. To achieve its goals, Caesars would need to increase employee participation significantly above previous levels.  

Attract and retain talent. A fundamental benefit of any employee education offering is the impact it can make in finding and keeping talented employees. Caesars’ goal was to expand educational offerings well beyond traditional tuition assistance programs. 

Support all types of learning. Caesars made the bold decision to offer tuition assistance for any accredited learning, even if it isn’t related to an employee’s job at the company. In an industry with higher-than-average turnover, any retention advantage can be powerful. “If we could keep a team member for four years while they were going to nursing school? We’re good with that. For us that’s a win,” says Radcliff.  

 Offer educational support for all stages of life. Tuition assistance programs can sometimes seem like they’re targeted toward younger employees. Caesars took a different approach. “Our umbrella strategy is that no matter what stage of life you’re in as a team member or employee, there is some education benefit for you,” says Radcliff. Thus, the education options would include a full range of offerings, from entry-level to senior employees and from high school credentials to doctoral degree programs. 

What Caesars needed from an education partner  

For Caesars, a second-tier program wasn’t good enough.

“We wanted to align ourselves with some of the heavy hitters in this space,” says Radcliff. “Great companies that have really invested a lot in the education of their employees and have the ROI and the data to show it.”  

 That meant finding an industry-leading education partner who could deliver on some lofty requirements: 

A great user experience. After struggling for years with outdated systems and manual processes, Caesars wanted an automated, tech-enabled solution that would make the program easy to use. 

A cost-effective solution. By expanding its education program, Caesars would also expand the funding significantly. The company needed to be sure that it found a program partner who could help maximize its investment.  

Comprehensive program management. The behind-the-scenes functionality was crucial too. This meant finding a solution that was easy to administer – and one that factored in program externalities such as maximizing tax benefits, accounting considerations, and much more.  

Making a connection with Strategic Education 

It makes sense that the leading company in one industry would feel at home with the leading company in another. After thoroughly researching potential partners, Caesars identified Strategic Education as its preferred partner. 

Strategic Education offers a suite of innovative learning solutions to help working adult students advance in their careers and improve their lives – and to help organizations attract, retain, and develop great talent. 

 As a leader in employee education, Strategic Education supports more than 1,300 employer partners by offering a suite of innovative learning solutions to help working adult students advance in their careers and improve their lives – and to help organizations attract, retain, and develop great talent. 

Among the Strategic Education portfolio of educational offerings, Workforce Edge stands out as a go-to option for employers seeking to make the most of their tuition assistance and education benefits. Workforce Edge was able to address the goals and needs Caesars identified – and more: 

Breadth of offerings. The Workforce Edge platform enables employees to choose from 750+ program offerings. Employees can access maximum savings, with a potential for no out-of-pocket tuition costs, at in-network institutions including Capella University and Strayer University, subsidiaries of Strategic Education. Participants can also use their tuition assistance benefits at out-of-network options, whether that’s a local institution or an online provider. Plus, Workforce Edge offers a range of degree and nondegree learning options.  

Ease of use. Instead of searching through 15 programs, Caesars Team Members can now access one online, automated platform that includes all of the educational options available to them. Employees can easily browse programs, select the education provider that’s right for them, and manage their tuition benefits – all in one place. No more faxing forms to HR. No more confusion about where and how to use their benefits.  

 Cost-effective. For employers, the Workforce Edge base platform is free. For employees, tuition-aligned pricing – available through in-network providers including Capella University and Strayer University enables costs to be specifically aligned with the tuition assistance dollars Caesars provides. Employees can pursue education with the potential for little or no out-of-pocket tuition cost. 

 Personalized advising. Through Workforce Edge, employees can work with a specially trained advising team – available by live chat, email, and phone – that can help explain program and benefit options.

“We felt fortunate that the advisors at Workforce Edge would be able to guide Team Members through their educational choices,” says Radcliff. 

Support with promotion and engagement. To inspire participation, it’s crucial to get the word out. Workforce Edge offers promotional support, including templated materials that can be customized to employer needs. This support was especially important to an organization like Caesars, where frontline employees may not have email or intranet access as part of their day-to-day roles.  

 “We go on-site,” says Taylor Corum, Workforce Edge senior solutions consultant for enterprise partnerships. “We have to be there, present and in person because not everyone has the same access to that corporate technology.”

Streamlined approval services. To improve efficiency, Workforce Edge offers parameter-based approval. With this structure in place, Caesars provided benefits approval guidelines to Workforce Edge. The platform can approve or deny requests based on those parameters – eliminating the need for managers or HR to evaluate each request. This has benefited Caesars in big ways, with Workforce Edge approval services contributing to a 91% error reduction rate between July 2022 through June 2023.  

Positive results. Big impact. 

Less than a year into the partnership with Workforce Edge, Caesars is already seeing a transformation of its education benefit program. 

Unprecedented engagement. Shortly after launch, nearly 18,000 employees visited Workforce Edge to activate an account – approximately 35% of the employee population. “We were blown away by that number,” says Radcliff. To date, the platform has seen more than 1,000+ tuition assistance requests, with more coming in daily. A significant number of those have been able to pursue their education with little or no out-of-pocket cost.  

Employee development. “We’re really excited about the growth we’re seeing in the tuition benefit,” says Radcliff. “Because that tells us that people are actively wanting to develop, and we’re helping remove barriers.” That observation is in line with a survey conducted in 2023 in partnership with Strategic Education that showed 74% of Caesars employees using the Workforce Edge platform see themselves working at the company two years from now.   

Making a difference for employees. “I think what we’re most proud about, regardless of what the numbers tell us, is that this is having an impact on our Team Members’ lives,” says Radcliff. This is supported by data from the same survey that shows 85% of Caesars employees using the Workforce Edge platform feel engaged in their jobs.  

“This program has given me a second chance at being the first in my family to earn a college degree. I’m extremely grateful that Caesars has invested in me and is able to sponsor this educational journey.”

– Jose Morales, Surveillance Officer (bachelor’s degree, criminal justice) 

By the numbers 

Caesars has been empowered by the data that shows employees responding positively to the Workforce Edge offering. These findings include: 

92% employee retention rate among individuals participating in Caesars All-In On Education program, which includes Workforce Edge.	72% of Caesars employees agree the variety of programs and schools to choose from is an appealing feature of Workforce Edge.	61% of Caesar employees agree Workforce Edge helped them go back to school by taking advantage of education benefits.

Caesars and Workforce Edge: Just getting started 

After less than one year, every metric is trending in the right direction. And Caesars is already thinking about how to expand the Workforce Edge program to include learning options built around specific career pathways. “That’s absolutely a part of our phase three,” says Quick. “Having some career journeys and pathways, and education will definitely be included in that.”  

 By reimagining their tuition assistance benefit, Caesars made a big bet on employee education. By partnering with Workforce Edge, they’re making that bet a sure thing.  

Evolve your education benefits 

Ready to explore how a partnership can boost employee skills and your talent goals? Contact a Workforce Edge specialist today.