Posted on: January 13, 2025
As human resources professionals gear up for the challenges of a new year, the demands of balancing employee retention, well-being, and organizational goals can feel overwhelming. Retaining top talent while managing tight budgets and competing workforce needs often leads to high stress levels.
One emerging solution is flexible education benefits. These programs not only empower employees to grow but also align seamlessly with human resources’ strategic objectives, creating a win-win scenario. This blog will explore the benefits of offering education perks, how they can reduce stress for HR teams, and actionable steps to implement these programs in 2025.
Why Reducing Stress in Human Resources Matters
Working in human resources poses stress related to numerous shifting challenges. While the impact of high levels of stress can lead to issues within the team that can hinder effective strategy, reducing stress levels can be linked to improved outcomes for your organization.
Challenges HR Professionals Face
Your team may face numerous challenges, but the following are two of the most common and pervasive.
- The labor market is constantly evolving, requiring HR teams to innovate talent acquisition and retention strategies.
- HR professionals are often caught in a balancing act—supporting employee well-being while ensuring cost-effectiveness with limited budgets.
Both of these challenges can be addressed with flexible education benefits such as tuition benefits, student loan repayment benefits, employer-assisted college savings, and using SECURE Act 2.0 to help those with student loan debt take advantage of employer match dollars.
The Impact of Stress on HR Decision-Making
Stress plays a role in our on-the-job effectiveness and can contribute to cyclical stress.
- High stress levels can lead to reactive decisions, such as over-relying on temporary fixes rather than more sustainable retention strategies.
- Burnout within HR teams not only affects their performance but can lead to higher turnover within the department itself.
When there’s high turnover within your own team, you add the work of others to your own plate.
Linking Reduced Stress to Improved Outcomes
When your team is able to put smart strategies in place that achieve your team’s goals while meeting employee needs, you ease your workload and reduce or eliminate future stressors.
- Implementing proactive measures like education benefits eases the pressure on HR by fostering loyalty and reducing employee churn.
- A less stressed HR team can focus on strategic initiatives, creating a more engaged and productive workforce.
As a result of offering flexible education benefits that meet employee needs, your organization can enjoy a more stable workforce, less turnover, improved morale, and fewer employee-related issues to manage. This also equates to a less demanding and stressful working environment for your team.
Flexible Education Benefits as a Retention Strategy
Let’s explore what flexible education benefits are, why employees value them, and how they give employers who offer them a competitive edge.
What Are Flexible Education Benefits?
Flexible education benefits go beyond traditional tuition reimbursement in the modern workplace. Consider the needs of your employee base when looking at which benefits are most in demand, but don’t make assumptions. Survey your employees if you can. Options you offer may include, but aren’t limited, to:
- Student loan repayment benefit. BenefitEd offers a fully customizable product that can be tailored to your needs and various employee types.
- Access to micro-credential programs and certifications. BenefitEd offers a tuition benefit that can be customized to the needs of your workforce, offering assistance or reimbursement.
- Partnerships with online learning platforms. Your organization may create its own partnerships or take advantage of other opportunities offered through a partner, such as BenefitEd’s partnership with AllCampus.
- Subsidized career coaching or skill-building workshops. Make sure your employees feel supported in career path development and receiving assistance in building on-the-job skills.
Why Employees Value Education Benefits
Education benefits are highly valued among employees of all generations for numerous reasons.
- Employees appreciate when employers invest in their personal and professional growth.
- These programs alleviate financial pressures, enabling workers to pursue education without sacrificing income or taking on additional debt.
- Education benefits increase job satisfaction by demonstrating a company’s commitment to employee development.
When employers invest in employees with an “intangible” benefit that improves their lives, it sends a clear message that they care. While the education employees have received stays with them wherever they go, education benefits build employee loyalty.
Flexible Education Benefits Offer a Competitive Edge
For numerous reasons, flexible education benefits can give your organization an edge when it comes to recruitment and retention.
- Flexible programs attract a wider talent pool, making it easier to recruit highly skilled individuals.
- Research shows that 80% of employees are more likely to stay with companies offering education benefits.
- Companies with strong education benefits often report higher levels of internal promotions, reducing turnover and recruitment costs.
Edging out competitors for top talent with your flexible talent and then developing the potential of your employees over time can set you up for a more stress-free situation than your counterparts with a more short-sighted view toward recruitment and retention.
How to Implement Flexible Education Benefits
To implement flexible education benefits, you’ll want to take several strategic steps so that your solution will offer long-term benefits for both your employees and your organization.
Assess Your Workforce Needs
Don’t guess at what employees want. Establishing the correct programs relies on knowing what truly matters to employees.
- Begin with a survey to understand employees’ education and career goals. Ask about preferred learning formats and topics and willingness to return to school.
- Use this data to design a program that resonates with your team.
Build a Scalable Program
If you have limited resources, you may need to complete your program in phases. If you’re experiencing severe staff shortages, instituting multiple programs at once may be the boost you need to gain an edge over competitors.
- With limited resources, start small with options like partial tuition reimbursement or free access to online learning resources.
- Scale up by adding student loan repayment or custom training programs based on employee feedback.
Partner With the Right Providers
Do your research and find providers who can offer the flexibility you need and who will reduce your administrative work and hassle.
- Collaborate with education providers and administrative partners that offer flexible, customizable solutions. Using proven, secure technology, BenefitEd, for example, custom builds education benefits products specifically for each employer after meeting to discuss their strategic goals and specific employee needs.
- Look for platforms that integrate seamlessly with your HR systems.
Communicate and Promote
Once you have programs in place to attract and retain employees, you’ll need to educate employees on the programs you offer and how they work.
- Launch an internal campaign to explain the benefits of your programs.
- Provide clear, step-by-step guidance on how employees can access and use the offerings. BenefitEd’s intuitive portal makes it easy for employees to understand how benefits work, but also partners to customize communications that help employers communicate with employees.
Real-World Success Stories
Tailoring the right education benefits to an employer’s needs can help solve a variety of HR challenges. BenefitEd has used various education benefit products to help employers execute strategies to achieve their unique goals.
Helping to Solve Retention Challenges
BenefitEd helped Summit Community Care attract and retain college-educated employees by adding an employer-assisted student loan repayment benefit. Not only did the organization gain a competitive edge, they increased employee productivity to help support their members’ health and independence.
Boosting Full-Time Status and Retention
BenefitEd’s client Thriveworks needed to incentivize more of their part-time mental health clinician employees to work full-time hours. Adding a student loan repayment benefit made a compelling difference and helped boost retention as well.
Ready to Stress Less and Retain More?
Flexible education benefits are a game-changer for both employees and human resources professionals. By reducing stress, fostering loyalty, and creating opportunities for growth, these programs pave the way for a more productive and engaged workforce. This also creates a less stressful workplace for the human resources team.
Start exploring how flexible education benefits administered by BenefitEd’s team of professionals can elevate your human resources strategy. Contact us today.