Over the past decade, corporations have been investing in their employees. But in the current economy with worker shortages and increased competition for talent, employee benefit delivery is evolving.
Take Amazon’s Career Choice program. Its employees no longer pay tuition upfront then wait for reimbursement. The new model: a direct bill.
Two West Michigan institutions of higher learning - Grand Valley State University and Grand Rapids Community College - are now an educational partner for Amazon employees.
Kara Van Dam, vice provost for Graduate and Lifetime Learning at Grand Valley State University explains the program.
Kara Van Dam: You know, I think that one of the things that we're seeing, not just in this current economy where there obviously is a talent shortage, but we've seen really over the past decade or so is corporations really investing in their employees and investing in educational benefits. And historically those are reimbursement models where the employees had to pay up front and then get reimbursed and those aren't great for students. They're not great for employees because you have to put money out for that you might need for rent or food or other things. What Amazon has done here is really leading the way and through the new model, which is a direct bill. So, the university gets paid directly from the corporation. The employee can just use the educational benefit very freely. And so it's really great for Grand Valley to be partnering with corporations like Amazon who support their employees in this way. To really provide their employees the opportunity to go back to school, or to go to school, period. Earn degrees that not only increased their own personal fulfillment but lead to professional pathways. And so, what Amazon has done this year is that it actually expanded its educational benefit. So, employees are eligible for it sooner, 90-days instead of a year, and more employees are eligible for it, including part-time as well as full time. And so, it's a great opportunity for us to be the educational partner that we have long been in this community for an even wider set of students. So that's why I'm excited about it. I think they're a great employer and we look forward to partnering with other employers like them.
Patrick Center: How does this arrangement work? Did you reach out to Amazon? Did Amazon come to you? There's some type of a transaction taking place here. You've got three parties really involved; the employee the employer and, of course, the institution of higher learning.
Kara Van Dam: Sure. So let me explain how it works. So, what happens in this case, the Amazon Associates is what their employees as associates, goes on to their Amazon Career Choice portal and they see who the educational partners are in their in their area. And so their associates across Michigan are turning on their Amazon portal and seeing Grand Valley as one of those educational partners. And so they go through our normal application process. Everything else is pretty straight forward, but they don't have to pay a bill, right. They don't have to pay tuition. Instead they get a voucher from Amazon that basically is a commitment from Amazon to Grand Valley that Amazon will pay for that tuition. So, it's a very straight-forward process, not only for the Amazon Associates but also on the Grand Valley end. Ee take that voucher. We let the, you know, students now register for classes and start their course work right away. And in fact, you know, this partnership went into place at the beginning of our winter semester. It's not just been announced obviously today, but it went into effect earlier. And so, we had students signing up from Amazon in January just days after they expanded this educational benefit. So, it's already created opportunities for students. Amazon is not the first time we've partnered with other organizations or corporations and it won't be the last time. They obviously, as Amazon has expanded its footprint in West Michigan, it's wonderful for us to be able to partner with them specifically and we're always looking for other corporations to partner with and we partner with many of the large corporations here in West Michigan, across the state, and even out of state.
Patrick Center: Do you anticipate more of this taking place? Is Amazon the first to change that dynamic or other corporations also doing that?
Kara Van Dam: No, no, this is really over the past, I would say, over the past decade. You really have seen this emerge in the field of human resources is just a best practice for employee talent development. And so, just more and more companies are taking on this approach. So, it's not surprising to see any given corporation do it. But to me it really signals when you see a corporation doing that, it signals a corporation that really does value its people. It really is putting their money where their mouth is, right? And saying that this is valuable. We want our employees to take advantage of this benefit. We want them to grow and develop whether they stay with us for their career. Whether they move on. We want to create this pathway. So, it's really about developing the whole person. And so, any corporation that is doing that and Amazon obviously forefront in our minds today. Really deserves a lot of credit and applause for it. It's a really great approach.
Patrick Center: Kara Van Dam, Vice Provost for Graduate and Lifetime Learning at Grand Valley State University. Thank you so much.
Kara Van Dam: Thank you.