How To Get The Top Crop Of Employees
Melissa Repko writes at CNBC that Target has some major incentives:
Target said Wednesday it will offer new perks to woo workers: a debt-free way to get a college degree and payments toward graduate programs.Starting this fall, the big-box retailer said it will cover the cost of tuition, fees and textbooks for part- and full-time workers who pursue a qualifying undergraduate degree at more than 40 institutions. It will also fund advanced degrees, paying up to $10,000 each year for master's programs at those schools.
The national retailer is the latest company to dangle perks to attract job candidates in a competitive labor market. With the move, Target joins other retailers and restaurant chains -- including Chipotle and Starbucks -- that have programs that help employees pay for college. Walmart recently announced it would cover the full cost of college tuition and books for its employees, after previously requiring them to pay $1 a day.
At Target, employees at stores, distribution centers and headquarters locations in the U.S. will qualify on their first day. Target will cover the full cost for 250 programs aligned to its business, such as computer science, information technology and business management. If an employee chooses a different specialty or seeks a graduate degree, Target will pay up to $5,250 for non-master's degrees and up to $10,000 for master's degrees each year in direct payments to the academic institution.
Just when retail has been at its most challenged -- will this allow retailers to hire better employees and will it bring more people into stores?
Or might this just get stores (and the back and some offices) staffed up with no difference in the sort of people staffing them?
Hard to believe such a program could be initiated by these companies without exploiting some huge federal tax breaks on the back end.
Being older means being cynical about incentives.
It's a great way to live, highly recommended.
Crid at August 6, 2021 2:17 AM
May have a clause about employee agreeing to working for them for x years after graduation. Ages ago my work had similar. If so company get some employees educated in areas they need who they already liked. for a tax break/ good interest press.
Joe J at August 6, 2021 3:20 AM
Two of the local waste management companies are going to offer college tuition benefits for employees and their families. It appears they've figured out it's cheaper to offer that than to continue paying overtime to run their understaffed facilities. They've also been investing heavily in automation. Most collection trucks went from driver & helper to just a driver.
Criticas at August 6, 2021 5:48 AM
This sounds great, but could backfire on Target quickly.
I once had an employer who offered tuition assistance for "work-related" degrees. The company got sued to include non- "work-related" degrees. Then it got sued to include all schools.
Pretty soon the call center was staffed to the rafters with people attending a nearby Baptist missionary college - all getting tuition assistance from the company. Upon graduation, the workers quit and left to do their missionary work. The tuition assistance program was eventually discontinued.
Conan the Grammarian at August 6, 2021 5:54 AM
Being older means being cynical about incentives.
What was that conversation in Star Wars (the first one) in the trench over the Death Star?
Someone's paying those costs. Odds are real good it isn't just Target.
I R A Darth Aggie at August 6, 2021 8:25 AM
Every company I have ever worked for has had these type of benefits. It doesn't usually cost them anything because most people don't take advantage of it. Working part or full time and going to school is tough and only a very few will take advantage of the opportunity for more than a semester.
causticf at August 6, 2021 1:45 PM
Taxable compensation. (The employee gets to control and direct it by picking the school and is getting educational services in exchange.) So as compensation, it's fully deductible as a business expense.
And Target has run the numbers and realized that they made out like bandits like all the other big retailers (Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes) during the Covid lockdowns, and are awash in cash. They can do it without blinking.
And unlike pay raises, it's easy to end or alter at any time in the future.
ruralcounsel at August 6, 2021 1:47 PM
> it's easy to end or alter
> at any time in the future.
✔
Crid at August 7, 2021 9:49 AM
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