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Employers like Amazon, Walmart, and McDonald’s are hoping to get colleges to accept corporate training programs completed by staff as credits toward their degrees.
The premise is simple: An employee completes a training program as a part of the company’s learning and development scheme. Generally, the courses must be off-the-job, “classroom” based programs – take, for example, a store manager completing a leadership course.
Once the training has been completed and certified, the college in question converts the program into an equivalent credit. This allows the employee to get ahead with their college work, skipping certain courses that they have already effectively covered during their corporate training.
Speaking to NPR, Walmart’s Chief Talent Officer Lorraine Stomski recently said the company aims for its corporate training program – “Walmart Academy” – to account for up to half of an employee’s college degree.
Why are companies pushing colleges to offer credits for corporate learning?
It’s not an entirely new concept. For many years, corporate training courses that have been evaluated by the American Council on Education (ACE), the Competency-Based Education Network, or the National College Credit Recommendation Service (NCCRS) have been accepted by some colleges.
Purdue University Global, for example, has historically accepted “Restaurant Operations Leadership Practices” and “Effective Management Practices” courses from McDonald’s.
But it’s far from popularized and has often been limited to office-based workers who are more likely to complete the classroom-based training that colleges find easier to translate into credits.
The likes of Walmart, Amazon, and McDonald’s are now pushing for colleges to consider how on-the-job training like food safety and customer service could count toward relevant degrees and are already partnering with community colleges to do so.
Why? Well, for a start, workers struggling to balance work with education are already on the back foot. A scheme that saves them from effectively duplicating their training saves valuable hours that could be put toward better results in other courses for their degree, toward more working hours and increased pay, or even just to take time back for their own wellbeing. “Employees who are awarded college credit for their training save time and money and minimize redundancy by not having to take courses that replicate their existing knowledge,” explains Lisa Mahoney, Director at the NCCRS.
There are benefits for the employer, too. Many HR teams now offer some type of tuition sponsorship or bursary, and time freed up for the worker may benefit the company by extension. It can also help push more employees to consider corporate training and develop context-specific skills that will directly help the employee in their role, filling critical skills gaps and promoting internal mobility.
Supporting staff with their education can drive motivation, engagement, and loyalty to the company, as it clearly demonstrates to workers that the company is invested in their personal growth, giving them the practical support they need to get there. This can help in the talent market, too.
“Employers benefit from helping shape their workforce by delivering high-quality, college-level training that has been recommended for credit in conjunction with supporting degree attainment in alignment with career ladders and occupational needs,” Mahoney notes.
And for employees, companies, and educators alike, any scheme that expands the accessibility of education is undoubtedly something to be celebrated. Many without degrees may feel that college would be too difficult for them to cope with, and yet would gladly complete training for their job, possibly pushing more workers to consider a degree.
How can I set up a college credit scheme for my company’s training program?
To begin the journey of extending credit recommendations to their employees for company training, Mahoney recommends employers begin by assessing their learning programs and reviewing their comparability against college-level learning standards.
“To qualify as college-level, the training must include appropriate length, valid and rigorous assessments of learning, and post-secondary subject matter, among many other elements,” she explains.
This can help employers present a clear case to college faculties who must determine whether a corporate training program has college credit equivalency.
“If a decision is made to pursue an evaluation instructional staff should review their learning materials to ensure documents are thorough, accurate, current and relevant,” Mahoney continues.
“And they should be prepared to present their programs… administrative procedures should also be reviewed by staff to confirm that data and training records are safeguarded and stored appropriately and that there is a mechanism in place for employees to request transcripts.”
Overcoming possible barriers
The good news is that there are already some well-established case studies that colleges and employers can draw on. “The number of colleges and universities that award college credit for corporate training is on the rise, particularly given an increase in student attainment of highly valued industry credentials and certifications and advocacy for adoption of universal acceptance of credit for prior learning,” Mahoney adds.
The US military, for example, has a rigorous inventory that allows any college to look at the work and training veterans completed, and work out how much credit to award the person.
But it is easier to translate some training types than others, and this may suit some job roles more than others. It may be easier, for example, to record and evaluate the completion of a training program in an office versus a busy restaurant or construction site.
If not carefully managed, this could create inequity between workers whose learning can be monitored, standardized, and certified, and those whose work and training cannot be so easily quantified.
From retention to risk reduction: How to deliver training to improve employee experience
There are a range of challenges facing people leaders when it comes to creating a compelling employee experience. It can be difficult to keep workers engaged, particularly where training & development is concerned. But whether it's compliance risk through mandatory training, or retaining staff through career skills building, it's business-critical for effective learning programs to enhance the employee experience.
Join us for a webinar hosted in partnership with WILL Interactive to learn how to deliver training to improve workplace culture and the bottom line.
The webinar will cover:
How the training you provide can elevate or diminish the employee experience
The benefits a more modern training experience can bring to the organization include retaining staff, addressing competency gaps, and even reducing compliance risk for mandatory training
The role exceptional training can play throughout the process of employee and workforce development
HR Grapevine is recognized by SHRM to offer Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP® recertification activities.
To that end, many employers may not have the sophistication of certification that colleges require to transfer training into credits. If HR teams are struggling with the maturity of their learning and development programs, working with partners and using learning management technologies can help to create a standardized and rigorous certification process.
Moreover, it’s a bridge too far for many colleges. Some are wary of committing the time and resources of higher education staff to review training that takes place outside of a classroom.
According to a report issued in 2024 by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO), more than half of the institutions it polled won’t accept credit for prior learning in transfer cases. “The barriers range from age-old institutional transfer policies that are prohibitive or limited to colleges lacking necessary financial and human-capital resources to adequately assess learning acquired outside of the formal college classroom,” Mahoney explains.
And just like any company benefit or learning and development program, there is the ongoing issue of worker adoption. Setting up the scheme is only half the battle—it’s also a communication exercise to get workers up to speed with the program, how it works, and how it ties into any other benefits such as company-sponsored tuition.
