The talent multiplier many companies overlook

Maintaining workforce agility amid constant change is an endeavor that seems to grow more urgent —and challenging—every day. We know that 40% of the workforce will need to retrain in the next three years, due to the rise of AI. And globally, 9 out of 10 companies say they have a skills gap or anticipate facing one in the next few years. 

Organizations are responding to this urgency with their wallets, but many People and functional leaders are unsure how to set up their organizations to remain competitive in the current economic and business transition. 

One tried and true strategy — education and training —is gaining new investment and traction, with hundreds of billions in spend. However, the education programs of the past are not going to cut it in the new future of work— and this is already apparent, as only 12% of HR and business leaders think reskilling efforts are effective. 

Here are tips for setting things up right —or updating your current program —to maximize results that power business resilience and competitiveness.

Your checklist for maximizing access

Uneven access to skills leads to the type of workforce imbalance that makes agility all but impossible. Empowering employees at all levels to learn new skills is a necessity for versatile workforces.

Strategic education benefits can backfire when employers assume that offering them to all employees means they’re accessible to all. In reality, there are hidden oversights embedded in education benefit structure and policy that prevent many employees from using them. 

Questions to ask when assessing your policy

1. Are we offering tuition assistance — or reimbursements only? 

True tuition assistance means you’re covering the cost of tuition upfront on behalf of your employees without putting the onus on them to obtain a letter of credit. 

If your policy defines tuition assistance as reimbursing employees for tuition costs, much of your workforce is missing out — and chances are they’re employees in frontline or hourly roles vulnerable to automation.  Tuition reimbursement can be valuable, but it will only be used by employees who can afford to pay upfront and wait to be paid back. 

2. Is everyone eligible, from day one? 

Barring part-time, non-exempt, and other hourly workers from eligibility runs the risk of excluding many people who could move into priority roles.

Making employees wait to achieve a certain tenure in order to become eligible only slows down your reskilling progress. 

3. Would we ever require employees to pay us back for tuition? 

Clawbacks are as punitive as they sound. Requiring employees to pay tuition back under certain circumstances, like a voluntary departure from the company or failing a course, can become a reason not to bother with gaining new skills (if employees can’t afford tuition in the first place, the potential risk seems too high).

4. Do employees have to wait for manager approval? 

If a manager believes that you won’t replace the talent they’re losing, they’re less likely to support education benefits. When managers are on board, employees are more likely to realize their career mobility goals. 

Taking the time to build cultural buy-in goes a long way (as does requiring managers to sign off on an employee’s career aspirations).

Managers have the power to make or break your reskilling efforts—so take the time to build buy-in.

5. Does eligibility depend on performance?

Holding new skills hostage to current job performance or program performance (e.g., maintaining a certain GPA) slows down job movement into important roles and prevents employees from moving into roles that may be better suited to them.

6. Do we offer tax gross-ups? 

Many employees may not be aware of the tax implications of attending a fully-funded program that exceeds $5,250 per year. For part-time, hourly, and frontline employees, this can come as an unexpected (and potentially unaffordable) cost.

Covering it keeps tuition truly free for your people.

[ Need to build cross-functional momentum for education benefits? Download our self-serve toolkit. ]

3 more strategic areas to evaluate

Just as education benefit structure can hide barriers, well-meaning programs can misalign with employee needs, leading to wasted education budget.

Here are three things to look out for:

1. Are our programs meeting our employees’ specific needs?

Employees’ needs go beyond the skills themselves. As learners, your employees generally have less time available to dedicate to learning due to other ongoing priorities like work and caregiving. Flexible program design, like multiple start dates and asynchronous learning options can have a strong impact on persistence. 

Additionally, programs that are intentional about giving your employees the chance to apply what they learn through hands-on projects that include feedback helps them prepare to deploy their new skills faster than passive learning (think self-paced video series) will.

Choose programs that give your employees the chance to apply what they learn through hands-on projects and feedback.

2. Are employees connected with the right support? 

Leaving employees to their own devices or with minimal guidance to find the right programs and confirm their eligibility can almost guarantee enrollment in programs that fail to meet your skilling needs. 

Instead, employees need access to catalogs of approved programs with clear connections to the career pathways they’re considering alongside 1:1 guidance in choosing them.

Expert coaching support can help them overcome challenges, stay motivated, and prepare for career growth.

3. Can we point to early success indicators?

Program persistence is a strong early indicator. When a program is aligned with business needs, staying enrolled shows an employee is tracking toward skills goals, and in aggregate, this data can help internal recruiters better predict your pipeline.

Education benefits are critical to addressing your most urgent reskilling needs. The good news is that turning education benefits into a driver of strong reskilling efforts doesn’t require a rip-and-replace approach. Making smart, meaningful changes to your education benefits policy and working with an education benefit administrator to ensure programs align with skilling need can lead to better results.

[ Want even more tips to help you? Go deeper with our complete guide to evaluating a talent mobility platform. ]

About Alex Cannon

As a versatile writer and strategist, Alex is leaning into the productive tension between the future of learning and the future of work.