Employee Benefits: The Dreaded Educational Reimbursement Question

Large and mid-sized companies often have educational reimbursement, which is meant to provide for the continued career progression for the employee. They are often lauded as perfect examples of win-win relationships: the employee gets valuable experience, education, and contacts, and the employer increases morale and builds their employee's knowledge.

However, here are many challenges to structuring such these program, for example: what do you say to the employee who wants to get a degree in criminal justice? Most companies have very narrowly focused programs that only offer compensation for programs exactly aligned with their industry and product. For example, if the company is in manufacturing, they usually only offer reimbursement for MBA programs with Six Sigma concentration or certificates in Lean Manufacturing. These programs are usually meant not only to enrich the employee, but to have direct job application and to retain the employee. It is almost a given that the employee will stay during the term of their educational program. When they complete the program, the goal of the reimbursement is to have the employee apply their knowledge in the pursuit of the company's advancement.

Not all educational reimbursement programs are so narrow, however. Consider the Employee Scholar program of United Technologies. Their program is not limited to a degree which readily applies to the employee's direct job. Their website states that "Employees can obtain a degree in any field, whether or not it's job-related." Now, here's the question: What possible value would a degree in criminal justice offer a manufacturer of high technology? These thoughts run through your mind:

Are they going to quit to be a detective right after graduation?

Are they taking time away from work to study?

Are they committed to this job?

If they stay, how will they apply this knowledge to their job?

Should I look for other positions within the organization for them? Internal auditing, perhaps? We never know what those guys in accounting are doing...

We need to know, however, that the goal of programs such as United Technologies is not the direct application of the education or necessarily the retention of the employee through their study and beyond. The goal is instead the broad elevation of their workforce. Continuing study not only enriches our lives, but also invigorates our minds and sharpens our wit. United Technologies is not betting that the employee will learn some great theory in that criminal justice course and then apply that principle to a new way of manufacturing air conditioners. Rather, they are betting that having a cadre of keen minds pouring over their processes and carrying out their daily businesses is a good thing. It's a bet on the development of intellectual talent capacity, not just the application of talent.

You may be reading this and thinking, "This is all well and good. But these programs are for big, well funded companies that can afford to have non-direct justifications for their dollars." You are probably right: educational reimbursement plans like that of United Technologies are usually for very large companies. They are expensive, broad initiatives designed to lift up a huge set of employees and secure the continued long-term growth of the employee community. They are a small part of massive staff planning programs that may go out ten years or more.

However, the employee morale and development improvement potential cannot be overlooked. Giving your employees the freedom to pursue their personal and intellectual goals is a tremendous gift. Perhaps we might do well to expand these benefits not to the degree of United Technologies, but to deepen the traditional notion of a correct reimbursable education. When reviewing plans for education, employers should certainly consider the career ramifications. For instance, perhaps that Criminal Justice degree is unwarranted for most businesses, as it leads to direct profession. However, most educational study offers no such direct application. For instance, where does a Philosophy, Economics, or English degree lead? (Some know the answer all too well.) Liberal arts, science, and business degrees usually offer mostly intellectual enrichment and nourishment, not practical job training.

So when we examine our educational reimbursement programs, let's not use a simple "Does this apply to their job" test, but rather, "Does this program raise the employee's intellect and talent without having direct career implications?" In short, we don't need to fund the employee's career change to a detective, but we can and should consider that Romantic Poetry M.A. for our Director of Marketing.