Employer-sponsored education programs are gaining traction as organizations grapple with rapidly shifting skills and workforce needs. Yet many of these programs fall short because they rely on outdated models. For example, traditional tuition reimbursement might look good on paper, but in many cases, it fails to deliver real business results.

In a recent conversation with Desert Financial Credit Union (DFCU), Veronica Franco, Vice President of Talent Management, and Amber Allen, a real employee learner, shared how the organization reimagined its approach to education, transforming it from a perk to a true talent investment with measurable results. 

Their experience offers a blueprint for any company looking to use education as a strategy for strengthening retention, mobility, and long-term growth.

Here’s what they shared.

Many employer-sponsored education programs fail because they’re designed to satisfy a benefits requirement rather than drive real workforce outcomes. Traditional tuition reimbursement often ends up positioned alongside health insurance or retirement funds. It signals support for employees, but rarely influences retention, internal mobility, or critical skills development. 

When education becomes integrated as part of your talent strategy, with clear alignment to business goals and strong executive support, it starts to create meaningful impact.

Education programs don’t just scale on their own. Engaging people managers can help turn a program from a static offering into an active part of an employee’s development. When leaders know how to talk about education, ask the right questions, and show support during busy seasons of life, the impact compounds.

DFCU prioritized manager engagement as central to the program. Leaders were trained on how to discuss education with their teams, received alerts when someone enrolled, and had clear tools to help employees succeed throughout their learning journeys.

"Having those conversations with my leader, who was super invested in me getting through the program, opened up a lot of conversations into what I was looking to do in the future that maybe I wouldn't have known how to have," says Amber Allen, employee learner at Desert Financial.

Education only works if employees can participate. Online and asynchronous programs meet people where they are and give them the time and flexibility they need to succeed. For many, that flexibility is the difference between enrolling and completing.

At the same time, flexibility can’t solve the biggest barrier of all: cost. 

Traditional tuition reimbursement forces employees to pay upfront and wait to be reimbursed later. Many simply can’t afford this. When organizations flip the funding model so tuition is covered upfront, participation grows and access becomes real.

As Veronica put it, “Unlike a tuition reimbursement program where employees are investing in themselves, with this we're saying, ‘We believe in you, we’re investing in you, and we want you to stay.’ In our engagement surveys, the one thing that we hear over and over again is that employees really love this program, and they feel like we’re paying it forward by providing something that’s accessible to everyone, not just those that can afford reimbursement.”

At DFCU, the move to a more accessible model was the turning point. Once employees no longer had to front the cost and could learn in ways that fit their lives, participation skyrocketed. The program now reaches 32% of the workforce and delivers a double-digit lift in retention for those who enroll.

Enrollment numbers show interest, but filling roles and mobility show impact. HR leaders have to look at both the numbers and the narrative. That means tracking promotion velocity, internal movement into hard-to-fill roles, and retention lift for participants compared to non-participants. Data like DFCU’s double-digit improvement in retention matters, but the human stories behind that data bring the impact to life for senior leadership.

At DFCU, these stories are easy to find, and the HR team makes a point to collect and share them. As an example of the program's impact, one DFCU learner stepped into a Business Analyst role the team previously expected to hire externally. These are the moments that HR leaders can point to to show how education can strengthen talent pipelines, reduce hiring costs, and deepen loyalty.

Education has the most value when it connects to real business needs. This means naming the skills and capabilities your organization requires and giving employees clear learning paths to build them. That transparency helps employees understand where to grow and makes development feel purposeful.

DFCU uses skills data and strategic priorities to guide employees toward high-impact paths, from digital fluency to cybersecurity.

As Veronica shared, “This is not just an HR program. It’s an organizational effort to build a strong bench in leadership and critical skills. We tie it directly to what’s happening in the world and what our internal needs are.”

DFCU’s InvestED program shows what happens when education evolves from a benefit into a true talent strategy. With the right structure and alignment to business needs, education becomes a lever for retention, mobility, and long-term workforce readiness.

Want to dig deeper into how these principles play out in real life? Dive into this case study that highlights more real examples of education in action.