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For Your Business June 27, 2019

Here's Why Investing In Frontline Workers Is Good For Your Bottom Line

Guild Education Cofounder and CEO Rachel Carlson was named to the Forbes Under 30 list in 2017. 

Most employers know that employee attrition is detrimental to their company’s success. But few know how to improve retention and continue to attract top talent. That’s why many of the nation’s largest companies, from Lowe’s to Taco Bell, have turned to Denver-based Guild Education to help them retain employees through offering pathways to high school and college degrees.

“Over the last number of years we’ve proven that when companies invest in their frontline workforce they become more attractive for people to work at the company and stay at the company [with]  higher retention rates, higher recruitment rates, higher up-scaling rates and a more positive brand as a corporate company in America,” Guild cofounder and CEO Rachel Carlson said at the Forbes Women’s Summit last week. Carlson was joined on-stage by Rothy’s President Kerry Whorton Cooper, The Cru Founder & CEO Tiffany Dufu, MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle and Vanguard’s Head of U.S. Wealth Planning Research Maria Bruno.

 

 

From Left to Right: Tiffany Dufu, Kerry Whorton Cooper, Rachel Carlson, Maria Bruno and Stephanie Ruhle.

While many corporate education programs focus on white-collar workers, Guild estimates that 64 million frontline and low-income workers will need further education in order to compete in an increasingly automated world. This group includes cashiers, customer service representatives, restaurant wait staff and cooks, and more. Guild helps companies provide access to education so these workers’ skills can evolve and grow with the company. For example, the nation’s largest employer Walmart’s Live Better U program covers all tuition costs after financial aid, with the employee contributing only $1 a day.

Yet not everyone is convinced. “When you listen to any analyst call, I’ve never heard an analyst ask about the ‘good’ a company is doing,” countered Ruhle.

So why exactly are companies like Chipotle, Discover and Walt Disney lining up to offer nearly free education to employees? Carlson says it’s because nearly every CEO they work with has mentioned sending their employees back to school as something ‘good’ in their earnings call.

“It wasn’t them just giving themselves a pat on the back… it had lifted their profits, recruitment and retainment,” she explained. In addition to serving 3 million employees, the company has attracted over $70 million in funding from firms like Bessemer Venture Partners, Cowboy Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank.

Guild is now looking at how to expand education options to workers in the gig economy. Though Lyft is currently a client offering educational perks to corporate workers, drivers are not able to receive tuition reimbursement the way other employees might. That’s because the tax code doesn’t allow companies to provide nontaxable education assistance to those workers. Lobbying to change this tax incentive might be the company’s greatest hurdle yet.

 

This article was written by Alexandra Wilson from Forbes and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.

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