As an employer, you have a vested interested in making sure your employees are professional and knowledgeable in their field. By sending an employee on a part-time degree course, your business can benefit in a number of different ways.
Thousands of businesses already have an education program in place where they encourage, and sometimes even fund, their employees to enrol on a relevant part-time degree course, alongside their work duties.
If you are an employer that currently doesn’t have any kind of program like this available, or you’re considering allowing one or two current employees to study, then the below information may help you make up your mind.
Updated Skills and Knowledge
One of the biggest ways in which your business can benefit from an employee studying for a part-time degree is through their updated knowledge and skills. They will be learning the most recent information in the field and feeding that back into the workplace; this knowledge can be very advantageous to your business.
Degrees expand your employee’s skills.
The things individuals learn as part of their degree can make them more productive at work, and often means they contribute more, which in turn is beneficial for your business.
Loyalty
Studies have shown that employees are a lot more loyal to a company if they have been encouraged to study a degree part-time alongside working for that business.
With employees staying with you longer, you don’t have to go through the interviewing, recruitment and training process as often, saving you time and money. It also means the employees you do have will be trained to a higher level.
Improve Company’s Professional Image
When a customer sees that a person has a degree in the field of work, they automatically feel more comfortable and confident in their knowledge. Having employees with degrees makes your business appear a lot more professional.
Many businesses display their employees’ certificates and qualifications in client waiting rooms or conference areas. If not, even just having the letters after the employee’s name on their business card or any letters that go out can have a big impact on the overall reputation of your company.
Employee Can Do More
While you might think that allowing an employee to study part-time means that they will work less, this isn’t necessarily the case. Plenty of courses can be undertaken through evening classets, or even through online tutorials that staff can do in their own free time, checkout http://www.uc-sa.co.uk/ as an example provider.
In fact, often allowing an employee to study part-time means that they can do more rather than less. Certainly within some businesses, employees are not allowed to do certain tasks without having the appropriate qualification. If an employee is currently studying, then these new tasks may become open for them to do. This can release pressure from other staff members and save time overall.
Unnecessary Expense?
Whether you send your employee to study part-time and help them financially or just allow them time off or a lighter workload, you might be wondering if this is really just an extra and unnecessary expense. However, it isn’t as simple as this.
As previously mentioned, studying can take place outside of their normal working hours, meaning you don’t lose any precious work time. If you do financially support the employee, then this won’t automatically become ‘dead money’.
Your employees will feel looked after if you send them on a degree to further their education.
If your employee needs a degree to advance or even continue performing their current duties, then paying for their part-time education will probably work out cheaper than hiring and training a new employee. The employee having a degree will ultimately make the company money, so it is actually a great investment.
Conclusion
Businesses can benefit from sending employees on a part-time degree course in a number of ways. From expanding the employee’s knowledge, to making your company look more professional and opening up their career possibilities within your company, having trained employees is definitely worth it.
Image credits: Auburn Alumni Assocciation and jjoregon