Failing Grades: Why Corporate Education Benefits Are a Wasted Investment

By James Green

DENVER, CO – May 19, 2026 – A staggering 82% of human resources leaders believe their company’s employee education benefit is performing well. According to a landmark new report, only one in three of them is correct.

This profound disconnect between perception and reality is at the heart of the Building Workforce Adaptability with Education Benefits Report released today by Guild, a modern education benefits platform. The report, the first large-scale benchmark of its kind in years, reveals that most organizations are squandering a multi-million dollar investment that could be a critical tool for navigating today's volatile business landscape. While companies pour money into tuition programs, a lack of strategic alignment and accountability means most are failing to generate meaningful business outcomes.

“What this research makes clear is that there is a real gap between perception and performance,” said Bijal Shah, CEO of Guild, in the report's announcement. “The issue is often rooted in benefit design.”

The Multi-Million Dollar Blind Spot

The scale of the investment is immense. Guild’s research, which surveyed 178 senior HR leaders across major industries, found that over half (55%) of organizations spend $1 million or more annually on education benefits. Nearly a quarter spend in excess of $5 million.

Despite the seven-figure price tag, these programs often operate with a startling lack of scrutiny. While 70% of companies have established key performance indicators (KPIs) for these investments, a mere 13% have implemented standardized, recurring reporting to track them. This creates a significant blind spot, allowing massive budget lines to persist without a clear understanding of their return on investment.

This lack of oversight means that for many companies, education benefits function more as a passive, check-the-box perk rather than a dynamic tool for talent development. The result is a missed opportunity to cultivate the skills, retention, and internal mobility that are paramount in an era of constant change.

What Separates High-Performers from the Pack

The report draws a sharp line between programs that succeed and those that flounder. The difference isn't necessarily budget, but strategic intent. Low-performing programs tend to optimize for a single metric: participation. High-performing programs, in contrast, are meticulously designed to achieve measurable workforce outcomes.

The results speak for themselves. Among programs identified as high-performing:

• 71% report significant improvement in workforce skill readiness.
• 62% report significant improvement in internal mobility and promotions.

This success is built on a foundation of accountability and leadership visibility. Nearly all high-performing programs (97%) share their metrics with senior leadership on a regular basis. Among low-performers, that figure plummets, with roughly 30% sharing results only when asked, or not at all.

This strategic alignment creates a virtuous cycle. When executives see clear evidence that education benefits are solving business problems, they are more willing to invest. Over the past two years, 82% of high-performing programs saw their budgets increase—twice the rate of their low-performing counterparts (41%). As one Senior VP of HR finance at a large healthcare organization noted in the report, “Our investments in education are intended to create future revenue. If we can support employees through degree programs and create a pipeline, it comes back to us.”

Rebuilding the Program: Access, Ownership, and Adaptability

Fixing an underperforming program rarely requires a bigger budget. Instead, the report suggests it requires a fundamental redesign centered on three pillars: purpose, access, and accountability.

High-performing programs establish clear, cross-functional ownership, treating education not as a siloed HR perk but as a core workforce strategy tool. They also dismantle barriers to access. Instead of requiring employees to pay for tuition upfront and wait for reimbursement—a significant hurdle for frontline workers—they are more likely to offer direct, upfront payment. This model is exemplified by companies like Chipotle and Target, both of which partner with Guild.

Chipotle’s “Cultivate Education” program has demonstrated that participants have a retention rate 3.5 times higher than non-participants and are 7.5 times more likely to be promoted into management. Similarly, Target’s “Dream to Be” program has found that enrolled hourly team members have a 76% lower turnover rate.

Finally, successful programs are built to be adaptable. KPIs are reviewed regularly, and the program is adjusted to meet evolving business needs. “With budgets tight and the pressure to prove value higher than ever, most organizations are sitting on an underutilized investment that could be doing far more: tuition reimbursement programs,” noted David Landman, Ph.D., Founder of HR Elevate and Former Global Head of Talent Development at Goldman Sachs. “The path forward doesn’t always require a new budget line.”

The AI Imperative: Adaptability as a Non-Negotiable

The urgency to fix these broken programs is amplified by the seismic shifts being driven by artificial intelligence. As AI automates tasks and creates demand for new capabilities, the one constant is the need for a continuously adapting workforce. The skills sought by employers are evolving at an unprecedented pace, and companies that fail to strategically upskill their employees risk being left behind.

Research shows that industries most exposed to AI are experiencing productivity growth nearly four times faster than others. Workers who possess AI-related skills already command a significant wage premium. The future of work will not be about replacing humans with AI, but about augmenting human capabilities through collaboration with intelligent systems. This requires an entirely new set of skills centered on critical thinking, creativity, and digital fluency.

In this context, an effective education benefit is not just a nice-to-have; it is a strategic imperative for survival and growth. Companies that continue to treat it as a passive perk are not only wasting millions of dollars but are also failing to prepare their most valuable asset—their people—for the challenges and opportunities of the AI era. The Guild report serves as a critical wake-up call: the time to transform education benefits from a poorly measured expense into a strategic engine for adaptability is now.