Companies Lure New Workers With College Coaching, Student Debt Repayment

Companies are launching new education benefits such as college coaching and student loan repayments to recruit employees, reports the Wall Street Journal . For example, Kroger has rolled out a program offering up to $3,500 in education expenses annually to workers, including those who bag groceries part-time. Meanwhile, HCA Healthcare plans to spend up to $300 million on worker benefits, mostly education-related, including a student loan repayment program slated for launch in 2019. In addition, Home Depot, which has already invested about $136 million on tuition reimbursement over the past 13 years, has expanded employee eligibility for funding and removed a 90-day waiting period for tapping those funds. Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi Professor Deniz Gevrek notes that raising salaries would be more expensive, and education incentives make "employees feel appreciated." The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) estimates that about 50 percent of U.S. employers offer to help fund undergraduate education for employees, up to $5,250 of which can be excluded from taxable income each year. SHRM's Chatrane Birbal is expecting more companies to boost spending on education perks due to the labor market. The portion of employers offering college selection and referral programs has more than doubled since 2014, to 10 percent now.