L&D | Walmart, McDonald's offer college credits for corporate learning - Should your company do the same?

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.