{"id":20053,"date":"2021-07-19T19:15:45","date_gmt":"2021-07-20T00:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trainingmag.com\/?p=20053"},"modified":"2021-07-19T19:15:45","modified_gmt":"2021-07-20T00:15:45","slug":"who-should-pay-for-upskilling-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trainingmag.com\/who-should-pay-for-upskilling-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Should Pay for Upskilling?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The COVID-19 crisis has left\u00a0millions of displaced workers<\/a>\u00a0struggling to retool for\u00a0pandemic-proof careers<\/a>. Many of them are low-income heads of household, women, and people of color. Disproportionately impacted\u00a0by the economic downturn\u2014and already entering the recession carrying the crippling burden of student loan debt\u2014they are facing an unfair and high-stakes proposition. They must decide whether and how they can afford the costs of training or short-term education programs in the hopes of seeing an economic boost down the road.<\/p>\n

The challenge stems, at least in part, from a misalignment of incentives: the risks and rewards associated\u00a0with training\u2014and who pays for it.<\/p>\n

Within the balance of power in education and workforce finance, learners have almost always shouldered a disproportionate amount of the risk. The proof is in the $1.5 trillion in student loan debt on the federal government\u2019s balance sheet\u2014not to mention the untold millions in consumer credit card and unsecured loan debt used to pay out of pocket for training and education not covered through federal loans. During the record growth and\u00a0low unemployment\u00a0<\/a>of the late 2010s, when jobs were plentiful but talent gaps were persistent, that began to change, with companies feeling hyper-motivated\u00a0to invest in developing and retaining talent.<\/p>\n

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, companies don\u2019t seem to be throwing in the towel quite yet. Instead, corporate investment in\u00a0employee\u00a0education, training, and talent development has been remarkably resilient. Even amid the unprecedented\u00a0economic collapse of the past year, U.S. companies still invested\u00a0more than $83 billion in corporate learning and development in 2020 alone. And there\u2019s growing evidence suggesting now is precisely the time for companies to continue doubling down on\u00a0employee\u00a0education investments.<\/p>\n

Worth the Investment<\/h2>\n

Research on the impact of providing training as a\u00a0benefit\u00a0also suggests it\u2019s worth the investment. More than\u00a090 percent of\u00a0employees<\/a>\u00a0say they would remain with a company longer if it helped them gain the training they needed to advance in their careers. A Lumina Foundation\u00a0analysis<\/a>\u00a0of training programs provided by Discover Financial to its\u00a0employees found that the company earned $1.44 in savings for each dollar spent on education reimbursement.<\/p>\n

But employers understandably worry about the sunk costs of training. They fear workers might leave to work for a competitor after completing a program the company paid for. With\u00a0nearly one million credentials<\/a>\u00a0now on offer in the United\u00a0States, there\u2019s still a lack of transparency around what works and what is the best fit for a company and its workers. Fortunately, a growing number of employers are finding ways to increase investment in\u00a0employee\u00a0education and training while reducing these risks.<\/p>\n

Rocket Mortgage,\u00a0for example<\/a>, has partnered with colleges and universities to offer any team members who have worked with the company for at least six months the opportunity to go back to school for free. Companies such as restaurant chain Taziki\u2019s Mediterranean Cafe provide English language training to their\u00a0employees through\u00a0online language learning<\/a>\u00a0programs that improve customer service and boost\u00a0employee\u00a0retention.<\/p>\n

Increasingly, companies also are finding creative ways to make\u00a0employee\u00a0education investments \u201cstickier,\u201d such as offering retention bonuses for workers who complete upskilling programs and stay on the job for a certain period of time. The approach has gained traction in industries such as commercial aviation,\u00a0long-haul trucking<\/a>,<\/u>\u00a0and others where the costs of recruitment and training are significant and\u00a0employee\u00a0attrition and burnout run high. After weathering a year of major air travel slowdowns during the pandemic, United\u00a0Airlines even took the\u00a0step<\/a>\u00a0of acquiring its own flight academy in 2020, and recently announced plans to train 5,000 pilot, half of its pilot workforce, in-house and pledging significant tuition assistance\u00a0benefits.<\/p>\n

Risks vs. Rewards<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s true: The\u00a0most forward-thinking companies<\/a>\u00a0 increasingly are viewing investments in\u00a0employee\u00a0education, training, and development not as a fringe\u00a0benefit, but as a matter of economic competitiveness, reskilling their\u00a0employees for internal mobility.<\/p>\n

Businesses are finding that the rewards more than pay for the risks of providing training and education to their workers. Research has shown that education programs such as these can help increase the number of high-quality job applicants by 25 percent while also reducing turnover. Chipotle, for example, has seen its turnover rate drop from about 150 percent to 5 percent among\u00a0employees\u00a0who are also Guild students<\/a>.\u00a0Employees enrolled in the program are 2.6 times more likely to be promoted.<\/p>\n

As the country begins to emerge from the pandemic, employers are finding a new way to strike the right balance between the risks\u2014and potential rewards\u2014in upskilling and reskilling.<\/p>\n

And the stakes for making the right\u00a0employee\u00a0education investments have never been higher. Bruised and battered from the economic havoc of the last year, employers now are facing an inflection point on how they think about\u00a0employee\u00a0education\u00a0benefits as a business strategy. They can shrink away from the trend that began in the years before the pandemic, saving money in the short term by passing the costs and risks of upskilling to struggling workers.<\/p>\n

Or they can renew their commitment to their\u00a0employees\u2014and the long-term health and competitiveness of their organizations\u2014by implementing new models that rebalance the risks and rewards of training, aligning business success with the educational advancement of workers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The most forward-thinking companies increasingly are viewing investments in employee education, training, and development not as a fringe benefit, but as a matter of economic competitiveness, reskilling their employees for internal mobility. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1959,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[31],"class_list":{"0":"post-20053","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-magazine","7":"tag-soapbox","8":"magazine_issues-july-2021"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWho Should Pay for Upskilling?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The most forward-thinking companies increasingly are viewing investments in employee education, training, and development not as a fringe benefit, but as a matter of economic competitiveness, reskilling their 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