Student debt is rising at a dramatic pace: in 2016, the average graduate had $37,172 in student loan debt. The stress connected to alleviating this debt is felt by employees across all age groups, from Generation Z and Millennials to those pursuing graduate degrees, to parents paying for their children’s education.
This, in turn, has damaging repercussions on organizations, including reduced employee productivity (e.g.: $7,000 in lost value per employee each year) as well as turnover rates above 40%.
Participants will learn more about the surprising prevalence of student debt among today’s workforce, as well as how companies are choosing to address this growing concern. They will get the opportunity to explore the benefits and challenges of integrating student debt assistance into employee benefits packages, and how to gain buy-in from company executives.
Key takeaways:
- Awareness of the national student debt crisis as one of the primary challenges affecting today’s workforce.
- Understanding of how this crisis is draining resources amongst U.S. organizations in the form of diminished employee productivity and high turnover costs.
- Perspective on how current financial benefits such as e.g. 401(k) programs are failing to alleviate this issue and have, as a result, become less impactful.
- Knowledge of the ways in which the American market has started to address employee student debt.
- Learnings on how an organization can begin to improve employee financial wellness.
Originally recorded on March 14, 2018.
