All major business companies want to hire the best talent with excellent knowledge, skills and abilities. The concept of tossing out lack of educational qualifications degree or certification, as long as an employee is hard working and does his/ her job allotted is on its way out. In the thick of a red ocean created by one’s competitors, companies are looking for employees who are engaging, have pride in their company and also have a strong sense of ownership.
The emotional quotient is certainly becoming more important than the intelligent quotient of the employee, as that is what drives an outward mindset and passion to perform to one’s full potential. Thus a number of companies are offering employees opportunities to enhance their knowledge and skills by allowing them to pursue their ambition of acquiring under-grad, as well as post-grad degrees.
Data and statistics world-wide have shown that many employees did not get the opportunity to pursue their goals of education, and if an employer helps them to achieve the same, the employees get more emotionally attached to their organisation and perform to their best optimum output level. It is a Win-Win situation both for the employer and the employee, since the companies get better skilled workers who can work their way up in the organisation, and the employee’s engagement with the company increases as the employee feels more valued. Hay’s Group, one of the large HR Consultancy Firm, says data has shown that retention of an employee is critical to an organisation, and if an organisation has to hire a new employee in place of someone who left with the same credentials and salary, then the cost of hiring of the new employee increases by about 50%, because of the intangible factors of adjusting to new environment, motivation, drive, time taken to complete jobs, etc.
Thus companies putting employees first with education definitely get a head-on start with employees’ commitment, engagement and motivation to perform at higher levels, which eventually translates into the company’s profits.
Anthem, one of the largest insurance companies in US has a company-wide program to help employees get a bachelor’s degree, Starbucks covers four years of tuition for its employees, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles have rolled out a college tuition program for its employees and FEDEX reimburses its employees by helping them do a higher education program like MBA. There are many companies realizing the benefits of teaming up with Universities and Colleges to enhance their employees’ skills, as they feel that by investing in their employees’ future through dedication, they get a well-oiled, energetic, happy and an engaging worker. Companies feel that retaining current talent as well as attracting new talent are extremely important, and education benefits help in meeting both their objectives.
It was found according to new research (Cigna study done by Lumina Foundation, funder of The Hechinger Report), that health insurer Cigna saved $1.29 in reduced turnover and recruiting costs for every $1 spent on tuition reimbursement, giving a whopping approx. 30% savings, by just investing on employees through the medium of education. The survey also found out that employees were 10% more likely to be promoted and made an average of 43% or more, over three years, than colleagues who did not take advantage of this program. Many companies talk about employees being their biggest assets and how they would like to invest in their HR. A good way of translating such objectives into action is by putting their employees first and helping them to fulfill their aspirations through good business education pedagogy.
Westford University College has the ambition and credentials to help out organisations fulfill their goals of educating their employees through its well-designed under-grad and post-grad programs. This will not only help the employees in acquiring the right acumen, skills and business knowledge, but the employers will also find it extremely beneficial as the program will be designed specifically with live case examples of the organisation itself inter-woven with its operational aspects. Together, Westford and you as an organisation can change the corporate landscape through an outward mindset of putting our people first by giving them the education that will encourage and foster the culture of collaboration, where everybody wins.
