By: Dynamic Business
As the war for staff talent heats up, companies are beginning to fund graduate management education for their brightest and most senior employees to reduce staff turnover rates, and provide a strategic investment that benefits both staff and company.
Today, about one in ten students at some of the largest US business schools are studying a company-funded Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree (Financial Times, January 27 2014). That number is expected to increase with a number of emerging flexible and online options, which allow employees to study while they work full-time.
MBAs in demand
Completing an MBA offers a broad perspective of business, including insight into a range of industries. When applied at work, this knowledge can help employees to innovate with other segments of the business and beyond, opening up company silos, facilitating inter-organisation communication, and in turn improving company turnover.
Rather than spending hours each week attending on-campus lectures and tutorials, students today are choosing from a range of flexible online programmes that encourage students to work while they study full-time. Many of these programmes even grade students on their ability to use their newfound knowledge in the workplace.
These programmes, such as the full-time online MBA from the Australian Institute of Business, are designed to build on the student’s work experience, where they apply each module learnt during their MBA within their current workplace. Gaining these new and relevant skills (e.g. finance, marketing, leadership, and strategic planning), can help the employee to do their job better, which in turn benefits the company.
How much does the company pay?
Depending on the financial situation of the company and the employee in question, companies may choose to pay a set amount of tuition fees; others will pay a percentage of the tuition costs, or even provide a reimbursement depending on the successful completion of the degree, or even course grades.
Some companies such as Apple, Google, and Starbucks regularly provide MBA scholarships to their employees, but this isn’t always a possibility for smaller businesses, which may choose to fund education on a case-by-case basis. If the company isn’t in a position to finance the degree, they may offer other benefits such as time off, study leave, or a flexible work schedule, particularly around exam and assignment dates.
What do employees learn?
MBA programmes give employees a generalised understanding of business, including the business pillars of finance, accounting, marketing, human resources, and operations management. Students can also choose to specialise their degree for their own interest and work area.
MBAs draw from practical case studies and teach students how to solve real business problems and improve their decision-making skills. The degree provides diverse education and teaches skills that will always be in demand, and can be taken from company to company, role to role, or even used to start a new business.
Hear from Chris Cowley, Managing Director Australasia at Varian Medical Systems, to hear how his MBA from the Australian Institute of Business helped him to become a better manager:
Chris Cowley, Managing Director Australasia at Varian Medical Systems
Source: Dynamic Business
