As children head back to school in the coming days, now is a good time for their parents to look into the
possibility of continuing their own education with the financial support
of their employer. According to a July 2008 survey conducted by the Institute for Corporate Productivity in Seattle, 81% of survey participants reimburse employees for tuition and 92.5% of the large corporations (over 10, 000 people) pay for schooling. Many HR managers claim these educational reimbursement programs help recruit and retain a more motivated workforce. Employees who show initiative and commitment in this area are seen by employers as being more loyal to their company. Many employers want to see some correlation between the courses being taken and their daily work or chosen area of expertise. For those wanting to shift career focus, some companies cover a percentage of course fees if it can be shown that the learning will be applied in another job some day. As for the risk of attrition? All companies face this, and some solve it by requesting that employees pay for their courses if they don’t stay with the company for a certain length of time.