Taking a Holistic Approach: College Planning as an Employee Benefit

BY Katie Chambers | October 09, 2023

Modern workers expect more from their employers when it comes to employee benefits. Rather than looking at just the individual, employees want benefits that include the whole family. Post-pandemic, working parents are faced with a myriad of additional financial, emotional, and psychological strains, from the increasing overlap of work and home to the uncertainty of college and beyond. These stressors can have a direct impact on employee outlook, productivity, and even retention.

Forward-thinking corporations are developing a more holistic and personalized approach to employee benefits that address the unique needs of employees and their families as a unit. This includes consideration of college and career planning needs for employees’ children.

In March 2023, Empowerly, a data-driven education technology company that provides personalized college and career guidance to students and their families, conducted a survey of 1,000 working parents of teenage children in partnership with SurveyMonkey. The study gained valuable insight into their perspectives on productivity, well-being, and college career planning for their children. Following the survey, Empowerly released a summary of its findings, demonstrating the need and the impact of supporting employees as their families navigate the college admissions process.

How College and Career Planning Affect the Workforce

Helping teenagers prepare for college and post-high school careers is mentally and emotionally taxing for parents, who are worried not only about their children’s well-being but also the logistical and financial ramifications of sending them into the next phase of their lives. The results of Empowerly’s study supported this: 95% of parents indicated experiencing stress or nervousness related to the topic within the last year, with over 50% reporting that they were usually or always stressed about it at any given moment.

Empowerly’s study highlights the importance of supporting whole families and looking beyond individual employee benefits (photo by Empowerly)

The planning process also takes a toll on children’s mental health. That stress is, in turn, absorbed by the caregivers. Over 50% of parents stated that they could see the negative impact on their kids. 29% of parents indicated that they spend between 6-15 hours per week thinking about their children’s mental health, with 6% thinking about it even more than 15 hours per week. It is a constant source of concern. Such constant distraction is bound to have an impact on their work focus, productivity, and commitment.

The sheer amount of effort involved in helping children transition post-high school ends up taking up hours of parents’ time and attention. According to the study, 25% of parents dedicate between 6-15 hours per week helping their child with college and career planning – and a whopping 88% of them have done at least some of it while at work. Corporations that provide college and career-planning can help offset some of this effort, bringing employees’ time and attention back to the workplace in the process.

The Positive Impact of Offering College and Career Planning Benefits

Empowerly’s study demonstrated that there is a need and desire for employers to provide the parents in their workforce with benefits that could lighten the load of college and career-planning stress. When participants were asked to rank a selection of similarly priced voluntary benefits, “College & Career Planning for My Family” came in at a close second behind “Financial Wellness Courses.” (The other options included “Identity Theft Protection,” “Nutrition and Fitness Counseling,” and “Discounted Legal Services.”)

Providing such a benefit doesn’t just spread good will among the workforce, it also makes a corporation more attractive to current and potential team members. 71% of working parents said it would positively impact retention, 74% said it would positively impact recruiting, and 74% also said it would positively impact their decision to recommend their employer to a friend. Building out an employee benefits program that incorporates the whole family makes a workplace more enticing as employees feel cared for in the ways that matter most to them personally.

Boosting Employee Satisfaction, Productivity, and Retention

The stress and time-consuming preparation that goes into college and career planning for teens can have a significant impact on working parents’ performance at work, causing distraction, a dip in productivity, and even a disruption to their overall commitment to prioritizing their job.

By providing free college and career planning for families as a voluntary benefit to employees, corporations can alleviate some of this additional work and stress, allowing employees to focus on their jobs and feel seen and supported by their employer, increasing retention and recruitment in the process. This sign of understanding and respect for the employee not just as a worker, but as a caring member of a family, can have a lasting positive impact on the organization as a whole.

Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Empowerly, for supporting this sponsor spotlight. 

Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost, Honeysuckle Magazine, and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, and CBS New York.

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