Dive Brief:
- Employers competing in the overheated competition for talent are looking at student loan repayment support as the next innovative employee benefit, according to Business Insider.
- A growing number of employers are beginning to offer assistance with student loan debt alongside more traditional HR benefits like 401(k) plans and health insurance.
- Article author, Dan Macklin, a co-founder at SoFi, a marketplace lender, reports that his company has seen a 300% increase over the past two years in employer use of student loan assistance benefits. And that includes Fortune 500 companies, smaller startups and more traditional companies -- not just Millennial-stocked tech employers.
Dive Insight:
Macklin cites keen competition for talent across multiple industries at many levels as the key driver of this trend, as employers look to attract individuals with specific degrees or skills and need more programs to attract them.
Employers must realize that student loans aren’t just a “millennial problem” – particularly considering that 25% of all graduate degree earners borrow more than $100,000, and a growing number of parents are dipping into debt to help pay for their kids’ education, he added.
Apart from attracting talent, employers also understand that student loan assistance can have a number of retention advantages, such as reducing turnover and increasing employee satisfaction and loyalty, Macklin writes.
