Recruitment

• The offer of tuition reimbursement for everything from undergraduate and graduate school to special skills certification and continuing education is a powerful recruitment tool. The promise of support for further study can sometimes trump a higher salary offer from a competing company for potential employees who are interested in creating a long-term career strategy. Job seekers also perceive companies offering tuition reimbursement as having a stronger commitment to the well-being of their employees.
  
  

Direct Benefit

• Companies are most likely to reimburse education and training opportunities that provide a direct benefit back to the company in the form of improved knowledge and/or skills in the employer's field of work. The larger the company the more likely they are to have a reimbursement policy for education, but even small and mid-size companies may approve short-term educational opportunities such as workshops, seminars and continuing education courses that have a direct benefit for the company's day-to-day operations.
  
  

Knowledge Sharing

• Businesses are more likely to approve educational reimbursement in situations where the skill or knowledge acquired can be brought back and shared within the company among co-workers and departments. It is extremely cost effective to send one employee for expensive training, if that employee can then teach the information to others within the company. While this is not possible for programs providing certification, there are many situations in which knowledge sharing is the employer's end goal in funding employee education.
  
  

Retention

• Offering educational reimbursement is also an effective tool for retaining employees. All Business reports that in a study by staffing and employment services firm Spherion, over 60 percent of employees receiving educational benefits said that they were 'very likely' to remain in their jobs for the next 5 years. Furthermore, since educational benefits up to $5,250 per year are tax-free as of 2010, receiving them can amount to a significant pay raise for the employee.
  
  

Win-Win

• Employees stand to gain further education which can lead to long-term career advancement, whereas employers potentially gain even more in the short-term. Offering tuition reimbursement creates a feeling of loyalty in employees (which may be reinforced by an actual contract requiring employees to stay or pay), increases job satisfaction, and improves productivity. Employers choose to invest in the education of their employees because it makes good business sense.