Strategic Upskilling: Why These 4 Organizations Are Investing in Employee Learning

Employers worldwide are investing more in technology and automation to meet their business goals and stay competitive. But are they losing sight of their employees along the way?

At the SHRM Annual Conference & Expo 2024 (SHRM24) last month in Chicago, Vicki Greene—president and CEO of GED Testing Service and senior vice president of Pearson’s Workforce Skills Division—moderated a discussion among leaders from four organizations that are investing in their employees’ education in flexible and generous ways.

These strategic upskilling initiatives are not only helping employees feel more listened to, appreciated, and valued, but are also benefiting the organizations’ recruitment, retention, and bottom lines.

Brinker International

Scott Roberson, a senior project lead at Brinker International—owner of the Chili’s and Maggiano’s restaurant chains—explained how many team members working at the company’s locations are still in high school, while others are seasoned restaurant veterans.

Brinker’s approach, he said, is to meet each employee where they are and remove as many barriers to continuous learning as possible. This means offering educational programs that help team members develop as leaders and take on greater responsibility as they master new skills.

Through a variety of program options, employees can learn Spanish or English as a second language, prepare for civics and citizenship exams, and even complete their GED diploma, associate degree, or bachelor’s degree through a community college partner. All of these options are available at zero cost to the employee—and offered on their first day of hire.

“We’ve had tremendous response,” Roberson said. For one, the company’s GED program increased retention rates by 40% among participants over a five-year period. He added that this is no small feat in the industry, given that restaurants tend to see nearly 100% turnover in a single year.

KFC Foundation

Debbie Rollins, a program director at the KFC Foundation, discussed its adaptability in its approach to strategic upskilling.

Rollins and her team found that the foundation’s college scholarship had only 500-600 recipients out of about 100,000 employees. To get to the bottom of this low participation rate, Rollins and her team conducted a poll and found that many KFC employees had not yet graduated from high school. They subsequently retooled the program to target potential GED candidates, which nearly doubled employee participation. “We have to meet the learner where they are,” she explained.

KFC has already begun to benefit from its strategic upskilling initiatives. Of KFC’s tuition-free college program, Rollins said, “We have already had five graduates. We have six team members who will graduate in the next month. We have had two team members earn their master’s degree already and [they] have been promoted—which is what this is all about, right?”

EDCOR

Adrienne Way, CEO and owner of EDCOR, a company that offers comprehensive education benefit outsourcing and consulting services, explained that the primary focus of her job is to help larger organizations find creative solutions for upskilling, retaining, and recruiting their employees. Offering tuition assistance toward undergraduate as well as graduate certificates, for example, is a great idea because it allows adult learners to get their certificate at a fraction of the cost they would otherwise.

Way and her team have found that offering flexibility in these programs is crucial. These subsidized certificates can be stackable into full degrees if the employee decides to pursue additional education. And they have the added benefit of making employees feel as though they’re being invested in, which in turn fuels retention.

Their programs also have advisors who coach employees one on one and check in regularly. Each coach works with the employee based on their scheduling needs, existing credits, and other extenuating circumstances. Way said her team found that giving participants flexibility on timing and the ability to carry over previous credits into their programs improved participation and completion rates.

“You just need that one person who has that investment in you,” Way said. “Remember, your employees that are taking advantage of tuition assistance programs and those benefits are doing it on their own time. [An advisor] can be the one person that helps you get through and finish that degree.”

Amazon Career Choice

Jeff Bulanda, a senior manager at Amazon Career Choice, explained how the company’s employee education programs work on a large scale: They’re available to about 700,000 frontline workers across 14 countries, with about 90,000 participants last year and even more expected this year.

Bulanda reiterated the importance of ensuring flexibility and removing employees’ barriers to learning. Amazon funds a pathway for employees to earn their GED diploma, prepays college tuition, offers flexible work schedules to accommodate course schedules, and partners with a wide network of colleges and universities. These initiatives are designed to cater to employees across the education spectrum.

Amazon also reviews employee enrollment in these programs monthly and reaches out to those who have not completed their program to offer support (e.g., phone calls and check-ins). These touchpoints have increased completion rates and led some employees to pursue their education further.

“We’re really proud of our employees taking ownership over their careers and over their education,” Bulanda said.

ROI from Strategic Upskilling

While these four employers take different approaches to strategic upskilling, they all invest in their employees to better the organization as a whole. “The more you focus on the learner, the better the outcomes you’re going to have,” Greene said. “The learner is going to be invested in you as an employer—and you’re going to retain that learner because they see you believing in them.”

Rollins seconded this notion, adding that these programs aid in recruitment. “It’s getting people thinking, ‘I want to go in this direction, but I need the education and [my company] is going to help me get there and pay for it. Then I’m going to go out into the world and [say] wonderful things about this company,’” she said.

Rollins also emphasized that investing in employee education ultimately impacts the bottom line: “People support and will visit establishments [that] show support and care for their employees.”