Employee Tuition Reimbursement

Research Findings

Wellness Program

A Wellness Program is a program designed to improve the physical and mental health of a company’s employees. The program can consist of physical fitness programs, nutrition and dietary information, smoking cessation, stress management, and health screenings.

A Wellness program focuses on preventative measures with lifestyle changes in physical fitness, nutrition, mental health, and stress management. An employee Wellness program will facilitate a healthier lifestyle, which will benefit the employers, as well as, the employee. Happy, healthy employees are more productive, less likely to be absent, and the savings in insurance premiums could be significant. Furthermore, there are significant improvements

“Most employers consider their employees an important investment both to accomplish the organization’s current goals and to have the right people in place for the future” (Fenton, 2004, pg. 49). One such employee investment is tuition reimbursement, which provides financial assistance for all or some of the tuition and related expenses for coursework taken by employees (Manchester, 2010). Employers that offer tuition reimbursement programs tend to recruit a better quality employee who will remain longer with the company to take advantage of the tuition reimbursement offered. Furthermore, employers have the, additional, advantage of reaping the benefits of the improved performance and productivity of their employee from their newly acquired knowledge and skills (Cappelli, 2002). A disadvantage of tuition reimbursement is that, with the attainment of new skills, an employee may feel they have outgrown their current job, thereby increasing the prospect of the employee leaving once they have completed their coursework (Benson, Finegold, & Mohrman,

A tuition reimbursement program would support employee development, which would assist them in keeping current with technology, while increasing their knowledge and skills. As the employee’s skills increase, an employer could then transfer the employee to a different position that will utilize their newfound abilities, thus decreasing the possibility that the employee would leave once their coursework was finished. I believe a tuition reimbursement program would be extremely beneficial because it will attract additional, higher quality employees, furthermore, it will allow employees to gain greater skills, and remain current with new technological advances. Employers should view tuition reimbursement as an investment that is certainly worth the expense to attain top quality, knowledgeable