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Biomedical engineering is a new field and is one of the fastest-growing engineering disciplines.

With advancements in technology and the need for better innovative healthcare, there’s a rising need for skilled biomedical engineers to bridge the gap. 

Biomedical engineering ranks #5 in the list of best engineering jobs. However, there are several different career paths for biomedical engineers, all of which require some form of specialization. Selecting the wrong field can be detrimental to your career.

The challenge, however, is there are very few companies in the field, limiting opportunities, as discussed by a practicing engineer on biomedical engineering Reddit.

With that, today we’ll discuss: 

• Different career outlooks and prospects
• Job opportunities in the respective fields
• Requirements and salary estimations

These will give you a better glimpse of the biomedical engineering field and provide insight on how to climb up the ranks so that you can set yourself apart as a biomedical engineer.

Biomedical Engineering Career Outlook

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates a 10% growth in biomedical engineers and bioengineers’ employment between 2021 and 2031, which is faster than average.

It’s also estimated that on average, every year throughout the decade, there’ll be 1,400 openings for biomedical engineers and bioengineers stemming from the replacement of workers who transfer to different fields or exit due to retirement.

The projected growth comes from rapid growth in technology and smartphone integration, its implementation in medical equipment, and the increasing demand for hip and knee replacements due to the growing population of senior citizens.

There is a demand for biomedical engineers in all areas of biomedical engineering and biomedical research. These biomedical engineers are needed to find solutions for the new breakthroughs in medical research and development that will improve human health.

There are biomedical engineering jobs in biomedical research and development, biomedical manufacturing (pharmaceuticals), biomedical equipment sales companies, biomedical departments at universities, hospitals/clinics and medical devices manufacturers. 

The main sectors of this industry are biomedical equipment manufacturing (40%), biotechnology (25%), biomedical business management consulting services (13%) biomedical imaging (7%) and others (6%).

Biomedical engineers will be able to find employment in biomedical research facilities because they will be needed for most areas of biomedical equipment manufacturing. 

They will also be needed for biopharmaceutical laboratories where they can conduct studies on new medicines and vaccines. 

Biomedical Engineering Career Prospects

Technology is at the forefront of healthcare advancement, and biomedical engineering is the center of the two. 

Biomedical engineering stands as the major driving force behind medical innovation.

Healthcare is a concern for everyone on the planet. Therefore, a lot of investment has been put into finding solutions to improve the quality of life for all humans. 

In 2014, there were 288,500 biomedical engineers employed in the U.S. As new biomedical technologies develop that improve human health there will be more jobs created to fulfill the demand of those products or services. 

There are several reasons for increased employment growth including new technologies for cardiac imaging which allow physicians to visualize detailed anatomical location and function of heart tissue.

Also as medical technology improves clinicians can perform higher quality procedures with less chance of their patients experiencing complications from the procedures. 

Being a relatively new field compared to other engineering disciplines such as mechanical, electrical, and chemical engineering, employment opportunities in biomedical engineering have grown up to 72% between 2012 and 2018. 

Previously, job positions in biomedical engineering were dominated by mechanical engineers because they could specialize on the go. However, biomedical engineering demands more specialization. You’ll have an advantage if you major in biomedical engineering.

The biomedical engineering industry has been growing at an exponential rate. Now is the perfect time for graduates in this area of study to enter the workforce. Occupational growth rates are projected upwards of 25% by 2022 according to BLS data from 2014-2024 projections, almost twice as high as most other fields at 14%.

The projected employment growth rate up to the year 2024, 18%, is higher than the average growth rate predicted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics 10% for all occupations. Projected employment numbers of biomedical engineers from 2014-2024 are: 

• Biomedical technicians: 12,600 with a growth rate of 15%
• Biomedical scientists: 100,000 with a growth rate of 20%
• Biomedical engineering technicians: 52,300 with a growth rate of 11%

With this information, it is clear that there will be high employment rates for biomedical engineers in biomedical research and development companies, healthcare facilities, biomedical manufacturing, hospitals/clinics, medical equipment sales companies and university biomedical departments.

The BLS said that engineers are going to see job growth and around 65,000 new engineer jobs will be added during the next ten years.

The employment outlook is different for different types of engineers during this time period. Here are the employment outlooks for various types of engineers during that same 10-year period:

• Biomedical engineer: 23.1%
• Environmental engineer: 12.4%
• Petroleum engineer: 9.8%
• Marine engineer: 8.9%
• Civil engineer: 8.4%
• Mechanical engineers: 5.3%
• Computer hardware engineers: 3.1%

7 Biomedical Engineering Career Options

Biomedical engineering is a multidisciplinary field that integrates engineering and biology, applied engineering concepts and materials to medicine and healthcare. 

Biomedical engineers can work in: research facilities, manufacturing, and medical institutions, among others. Their work involves designing surgical tools, medical devices, implants, 3-D painted organs, and other innovations that save lives.

Career options for biomedical engineers are diverse. Depending on the area of specialty, bioengineers can work as the following:

Doctor

The main focus of biomedical engineers is developing new equipment and devices to improve human health through the integration of technology and medicine. 

With an undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering, you can choose to pursue a medical degree and become a doctor or surgeon. 

To achieve this, biomedical engineering students take courses in physiology, molecular biology, human anatomy, and pharmacology, just like MD students, making for an easier transition. 

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there’s an unexpected growth of 13% in positions for doctors and surgeons between 2018 and 2028. Therefore it’s worthwhile to make the switch to medicine.

Biomaterials Developer

This job involves designing and developing biomaterials, either natural living tissues or artificial materials for use in the human body. Biomaterials can be used to detect and image disease or repair and replace lost function in the body.

As a biomaterials developer, your job is to ensure implant materials are free of carcinogens and toxins to ensure 100% safety for patients. Implants also have to be structurally sound, inert, and chemically stable to last a lifetime.

Other areas where you can work in biomaterials development are biomedical implant development, tissue engineering, nano implants, and drug delivery.

There’s no shortage of jobs in biomaterials development, and the projected employment rate is 7% according to BLS. At the entry level, all you need is your Bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering.

Manufacturing Engineer

With a Bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering, you can work as a manufacturing engineer for medical products. These products include hospital equipment, prosthetics, imaging devices, medical instruments, and more. 

As a manufacturing engineer, your responsibilities are developing and cost-effectively designing quality medical products to help improve the healthcare industry.

Manufacturing engineers with a background in biomedical engineering are tasked with a leadership position in designing medical products or managing the design team as a whole.

This is a competitive job, and positions are often open to other engineering disciplines.

Software Engineer

Software engineers with a background in biomedical engineering focus on designing and developing computer programs used for a wide range of medical applications. These programs allow personnel in medical facilities to display and manipulate recorded medical data.

To work as a software engineer, you need additional education and specialization in information technology. This can either be a major in IT or proceeding with a Master’s degree in IT.

Biomedical Researcher or Biomedical Scientist

Biomedical engineers work as researchers. As a biomedical scientist, your job involves using clinical trials to research and find solutions for medical problems by conducting scientific laboratory tests.

Biomedical engineering researchers spend much of their time seeking information to help in designing and developing medical products and biomedical technology. They also conduct product testing to ensure they’re safe to use on patients. 

Biomechanics is also a field where biomedical engineers can work as researchers. The job involves integrating medical problems and body systems to help create biomedical devices. 

Biomedical scientists can also teach at the university level. To become a researcher, you need an MBA or PhD in Biomedical Engineering or other related disciplines. 

The job growth rate projection for biomedical scientists is 8% by the BLS. Faster than the average occupation growth rate of 3%.

Biomedical Consultant

Becoming a biomedical consultant is a great career path for a biomedical engineer. They get to work with research institutions and medical organizations and give them recommendations and guidance individually. 

Consultants help medical organizations with decision-making, workforce organization, execution of processes, equipment selection, among other important decisions. This can take place for an extended period, sometimes years.

Independent biomedical consultants can work with multiple businesses and cultivate great relationships with various stakeholders while also enjoying the benefits of diverse experiences and being their own boss!

Rehabilitation Engineer

As a biomedical engineer, you can venture into a rehabilitation engineering career. This job involves designing and developing prosthetics to help people who have lost limbs regain normal function.

Other roles you might work on are creating custom solutions for rehabilitation technology by making research improvements based on unique needs.

Biomedical Engineers working in rehabilitation get to work on diverse projects ranging from mechanical equipment that help patients regain mobility or virtual reality systems for better limb mobility.

Biomedical Engineering Career Ladder

Careers in biomedical engineering are diverse, and since some may be closely related, advancement hierarchies are sometimes horizontal.

The career ladder in every biomedical field has 5 major steps. Progression depends on experience, area of specialization, and academic level achievement.

1. Top-level engineer
2. Entry-level engineer
3. Junior level engineer
4. Mid-level engineer
5. Senior-level engineer

When you sign up with Quantic, you get access to a career development platform where you connect to top employers in the industry and apply for exclusive job positions. 

How to Strengthen Career in Biomedical Engineering

The first step to a great career is to get your foot in the door. Once you secure an entry-level job, the rest should be much easier. Here are a few tips to give you an edge and help strengthen your biomedical career.

Join a Professional Society

Professional societies are well known for helping people climb up the ladder through networking. They organize events where you meet leaders, specialists, and peers who can provide great insights and connect you to prospective employers.

Great professional societies in the biomedical field include: 

• The Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS)
• The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
• The Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), the Materials Research Society (MRS)
• The Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS)

Education

Advancing your education by enrolling in a master’s or PhD helps elevate your skills in the field and provides more specialization, increasing your qualification for certain job positions with higher pay.

The first step to a great career is to get your foot in the door. Once you secure an entry-level job, the rest should be much easier. Here are a few tips to give an edge and help strengthen your biomedical career.

Here are a couple of examples of people who chose to study with Quantic:

1. Tracey Mullen, a Chemical-Biological engineer from MIT, started her career in antibody discovery and then pursued an MBA degree through Quantic to advance her career. She joined Abveris as Director of Antibody Discovery Operations and was later promoted to Chief Operating Officer and then to Chief Executive Officer. This demonstrates the importance of continuous learning and skill development to advance one’s career within the biomedical industry.
2. Dr. Young began his career as a doctor, but he eventually transitioned into law to become a patient safety advocate, driven by personal experience with medical malpractice. Through his work at Ross Feller Casey LLP, he represents plaintiffs in medical malpractice actions, fighting for those who have been catastrophically harmed by the healthcare system. Dr. Young’s story highlights the importance of following one’s dreams and leveraging one’s skills to make a meaningful impact in the world.

Keep up With Technology

The biomedical engineering industry is dependent on technology. With the rapid advancements in technology, it’s important to stay up-to-date with the latest developments in the industry to keep you on top of your game and improve your eligibility to prospective employers.

Continual Research

Research in the medical field never stops, and neither should you. Several illnesses are yet to be cured and even more developing by the day. 

To succeed as a biomedical engineer, conduct more research so that you can come up with innovative solutions to unsolved healthcare problems. You never know. You just might be the one to cure cancer.

Biomedical Engineering Salaries 

Wondering how much you can make as a biomedical engineer? Well, let’s just say it’s an enriching career. 

So how much are we talking? Let’s find out.

What is the Starting Salary for Biomedical Engineering?

According to Payscale, entry-level jobs for biomedical engineers pay a basic salary of $50,000 to $98,000, plus a bonus between $517 to $10,000. This brings the average total to around $68,158 per year.

These jobs include biomedical engineer, quality engineer, development engineer, 

design engineer, associate engineer. They all require a bachelor’s degree.

What is the Average Salary for Biomedical Engineering?

Biomedical engineers earn based on their seniority. Salaries and wages vary by state, but on average, a biomedical engineer makes $87,932 yearly which is 44 percent above the national average, according to Career Explorer.

How Much Does a Masters in Biomedical Engineering Make?

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, biomedical engineers with a master’s degree had a starting salary of $67,360 a year on average. This is significantly high compared to their bachelor’s degree counterparts.

A master’s degree also makes them eligible for higher positions that come with better pay, such as mid-level engineers who make $87,932 a year on average.

How Much Do Biomedical Engineers With an MBA Make?

Biomedical engineers with an MBA are eligible to work in either pharmaceutical management or hospital management. Those are two best compatible MBA specializations.

Their average salary for a pharmaceutical project manager is $107,015 and $86,000 for hospital operations director, and $160,000 for CEOs.

MBA Course Curriculum & Syllabus for Engineers

A great MBA course curriculum for biomedical engineers should include business concepts such as finance. 

Building a successful engineering career takes more than technical skills. You have to understand the business side of it too. This involves administration, management, marketing, finance, personnel, and planning.

Strong business and finance concepts help engineers to manage projects, teams, and budgeting effectively. Get started with a free online business and finance course.

Marketing skills help engineers understand customers’ needs and wants, making them design better products to suit their needs. Quantic offers a competitive marketing MBA course that will help you take your career to the next level. Sign up today.

An organization’s survival in today’s competitive market depends on management’s ability to envision and run operations. As an engineer, you’re responsible for the company’s strategic management. A strategy course at Quantic Is just what you need to take that next step.

Managing a team requires data analysis and critical decision-making. As an engineer, you should analyze data, interpret it and use it to make important decisions for your team. A statistics course is the right step towards achieving this goal.

Leadership skills are crucial for engineers as most get to work as team leaders for various projects. Learn how to manage your team and achieve maximum productivity by taking an online course on leadership. 

At Quantic, we offer comprehensive and radically affordable online MBAs to help you advance your career to the next level. We are an accredited US institution offering a wide variety of online courses and a career network to help connect you to the top employers.

Start your journey with us today.

Our business world is complex. The traditional approach to doing business is at a crossroads. Employee satisfaction, corporate power, and healthy competition are often under scrutiny.

Many of the problems organizations face today are related to their learning methods. This includes their ability to change and take up competitive challenges. 

Organizational learning has proved key to survival in this demanding environment. In it, employees share decision-making powers and corporate accountability.

Organizational learning helps businesses adapt to environmental uncertainties and learn from past mistakes. This critical knowledge is useful in the days ahead.

Organizational learning brings operational efficiency.  Yet, it comes with uncertainty. Many organizations struggle to apply its principles to their daily operations.

Today, we’ll take an evidence-based approach to the practices of organizational learning. We’ll consider the associated method that organizations need to apply its principles.

What Is a Learning Organization?

Experts in learning organization theory have had a hard time finding an exact definition of a learning organization.

In his book, The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Science of The Learning Organization, Peter Senge defines learning organizations as those that:

Learning organizations should respond to present-day pressures. This is useful for competition.

Learning Organization Characteristics/Culture

A learning organization’s culture has the following 5 dimensions.

Systems Thinking

This approach encourages a collaborative learning pattern. Individuals bring in their innovation as part of the whole framework.

Quantic offers a group-learning platform. This includes classmate interaction and class exercises. They also build knowledge together weekly.

Personal Mastery

Corporate learners are challenged into a lifelong learning mindset.  They thus develop personal mastery and get the results they desire most. The Skills obtained are applied in real life.

Quantic’s lessons are interactive, emphatically testing a learner’s understanding. Coaches on the platform help learners apply lessons to real-life scenarios.

Mental Models

Corporate learners practice self-reflection, which shapes their decisions and actions. They’re allowed to take risks, learn from mistakes, and improve their assumptions and approach. 

Building a Shared Vision

Corporate learners commit to their workgroups. They thereby build shared perceptions of desirable futures and what to do to get there. 

Managers are challenged to be forward-thinking. They use regular team meetups, active social media engagement, and live webinars to set the pace for organizational growth.

Team Learning

In this fifth discipline, synergy is critical. Every member in a learning organization pores over overall objectives and outcomes.

They collaborate via a shared knowledge repository which includes:

• An online training portal 
• Links, which are shared by authority
• Worker-generated content, which they share with peers

Learning Organization Examples

Exco

Exco is an Australian manufacturer that specializes in mining and construction products. In 1994, Exco began implementing a flatter organizational structure. This involved:

• Personal Mastery: The company used the Covey 7-Habits program, which helped employees achieve mastery at work. The employees’ feedback indicated improvement.
  
• Team Learning: A standardized questionnaire helped a member assess another member’s performance. The member then sent feedback to the individual and the team.
  
  The HR team facilitated a detailed training program. This helped team members improve their collaboration skills.  
  
• Building a Shared Vision: Individual teams came up with strategies across functional areas. These were then adopted by top management. Communication improved.

The table below summarizes the elements adopted by Exco:

Exco developed a flattened organizational structure. This has helped Exco employees contribute to its development. This has also improved teamwork.

NASA

NASA adopts a learning system. It used revised rules, improved skills, and focus on knowledge to solve problems. 

The following 3 domains inform NASA’s learning system:

• Personal Mastery: At NASA, employees are constantly rotated. This induces them to reapply past experience and NASA’s embedded wisdom into new assignments.
  
• Team Learning/Systems Thinking: If an employee doesn’t know what to do, they can draw from others in NASA’s network. This augments their problem-solving ability.
  
  So, the researcher gets to know the solution and the person behind it. This further cements personal contact.
  
• Shared Vision: NASA keeps information in its knowledge domains, including manuals and policy files. These provide managerial principles, e.g. team-building methods.
  
  This is regarded as common knowledge, which is effective by combining it with personal/network knowledge.

The image below summarizes NASA’s three learning domains:

NASA learning model involves six key intervention points, which are summarized below:

NASA’s learning culture involves free information flow. It also includes open-ended decision-making and extensive discussion around decisions.

The three mental models offer room for continuous commitment to lifelong learning. Workers apply the knowledge in their demanding tasks at NASA.

Benefits of Creating a Learning Organization

Organizations can help their workers grow and develop a culture of learning, which leads to the following benefits:

Improved Innovation (Bloomfire)

Organizations can foster a suitable environment to encourage innovation. Factors like culture and talent aid these disruptive conditions. 

Google is an example of innovation. Its culture incorporates openness to new ideas. Employees learn, pitch, and explore these ideas (no matter how out-of-place they are).

Google Cafés are designed to spark employee interaction around work and play. The relaxed environment creates time for reflection and room for cross-team collaboration. 

Google workers are also allowed to mail top management at any level directly.

Innovation encourages a proactive approach to problem-solving.  It also empowers employees to work towards a common target. They also learn from one another.

Better Team Management (GetSmarter)

A knowledge culture aids employees in upskilling and knowledge sharing. Overall, this conceives a learning culture bent on productivity and cross-departmental support. 

Learning organizations have reported retention rates of up to 50%. This owes to staff satisfaction and shared ownership of projects. All these form part of an accountability framework.

Peter Senge defines learning organizations as places where “people are continually learning how to learn together.” (Senge 1990). Shared ownership of work means shared accountability of the results. 

Learning organizations are assistive places where corporate employees learn a lot collaboratively. This includes aspects of the information age, principles of sustainable workplaces, cyber-physical systems, etc.

A Collaborative Approach To Problem Solving (Bloomfire)

The adage “teamwork will win” applies especially to learning organizations. Here, teams are pooled together under a common goal. Each individual brings a unique perspective and viewpoint to the table. 

This shared brain power has many advantages.  Instead of outsourcing solutions, businesses can turn to their internal powerhouse. This yields faster turnaround times at comparatively lower costs.

Internal teams also tend to be more streamlined and agile. 

First,  they collaboratively point out a potential loophole in an intended solution. Afterward, they work together as departments to improve efficiency and service provision.

Transformational Leadership (Sapna Rijal)

Leadership is crucial in developing learning within the organization. A leader understands the company’s situation, its people, and the necessary transition steps. Transformation begins with them.

Learning organization managers need many employee management skills. This includes modeling learning behavior and crafting a collective vision. They should also prepare employees for imminent challenges.

These managers should be at the forefront in inventing learning/growth practices. They should also take part in them. Otherwise, they will give employees a feeling that their senior administrators aren’t committed.

Administrators must adapt system practices and paths that employees can imitate. Consequently, employees feel comfortable with change and provide valuable ideas.

Better Communication  (ResearchGate)

Communication is a top priority to successful changes in a learning organization.

In a traditional organization, a message is passed across several layers of the organization. Interestingly, each layer adds its own bias to the message before passing it on. This communication loop is subject to misinterpretation.

A free flow of ideas creates a competitive advantage, allowing the company to adapt its rules accordingly. Methods include teaching, developing, and training employees to better articulate objectives.

Effective communication in a learning organization involves:

• The process of sending and receiving information.
• Top administration, and how well their words tie to their actions.
• Filters, which help personnel send their messages clearly to the intended audience.

Learning Organization vs. Traditional Organization

In a traditional organization, top management manages everything. This includes the shared vision and conflict resolution.

You become a learning organization when your company embraces collaborative learning. You should also accommodate diverse personal viewpoints. Also, ideas are nurtured and executed at all organizational levels. 

Also, in this model, your top management will deeply engage workers. They’re considered a part of the company’s vision. Also, harmonize their divergent viewpoints.. 

Traditional organizations and learning organizations compare as follows:

As your organization evolves, you’ll need to divest in organizational leaders. These are the stewards, designers, and teachers of this new learning system. 

As designers, your leaders need to shift into a foundational framework. This drives the organization’s purpose and core values. 

They should invest in cooperating with the company’s teams. Collectively, they ensure strategies and policies support core values and business decisions. 

Leadership should also mentor personnel into developing approaches that efficiently tackle problems. This approach ensures authentic learning, development, and growth.

Lastly, leadership should ensure the organizational values are internalized and practiced. This relates to the organization’s higher purpose, good behavior, and member support. 

Management should commit to the concepts of this learning organization. They should promote learning, and open up to sharing power with employees. 

You’ll learn more of this in the areas below.

How to Become a Learning Organization

Meaning

A learning organization specializes in the process of managing knowledge. This affects behavior at all levels. 

Staff and administration foster work-related learning and collaboration.  Employees therefore improve and adapt to new ideas and knowledge. 

Overall, staff test new experiences (mistakes, risks, and expertise).  They use the lessons to improve the organization. 

Management

The following guidelines will help you manage a learning organization:

Commitment to Change

A learning organization cuts into your organizational eye view,. It helps to create varied approaches to problem-solving. You should ask yourself all the “what-if” questions along the way.

The learning organization concept involves learning and improvement. Always lookout for ways to enhance the learning experience.

The organization’s leaders should show their commitment to its vision.  They should maintain a positive attitude towards change.

You will manage difficulties in today’s information environment by meeting new challenges. Also, consider adopting new technologies, and enhancing service provision. 

Aim at a Flat, Knowledge Sharing Structure

A top-down hierarchical organization format is not favorable for a learning organization. This is because its bureaucratic nature inhibits problem-solving and promotes mindless obeisance.

Contrarily, a flat organizational structure boosts creativity and inter-departmental engagement. It also uses communication to aid in the flow of knowledge. This provides the double benefits of individual and group learning.

Creating Practical Mental Models to Support and Reward Learning

Organizations can incorporate individual learning programs/processes. This is alongside classes, workshops, and enhanced staff development courses to model learning.

A learning organization uses rewards to support and promote learning. Proper appraisals are aimed at honoring teamwork. It aids new skill acquisition and personal development towards goals.

Rewarded people are more likely to embrace and support learning activities.

Quantic has adopted Active Learning as a crucial element in its online education platform. By using technology backed with feedback, lessons are delivered more efficiently. Our pedagogical approach makes learning faster.

Measurement 

Performance measures used in organizational learning involve survey instruments that are used to understand learning capability. These measures include:

• Clarity of Mission and Purpose.
• Transferring Knowledge
• Leadership Commitment
• Risk and Experimentation
• Teamwork

These are summarized in the diagram below:

Quantic’s Active Learning helps students participate actively in their learning. The instructor’s feedback provides an individualized experience. Every 8 seconds into a video, a student is prompted to engage instantly and only move forward upon mastering the skill.

Please play the video below for more on our pedagogical, Active Learning methodology:

Building A Learning Organization With Quantic

How, then, would you realize organizational learning? Becoming a learning organization does not happen overnight. It takes quite a bit to revise your Learning and Development culture. This includes getting the right experts and providing the necessary learning opportunities.

At Quantic, we believe in learning and knowledge as the drivers to adaptation. Moreover, we support team learning, which involves training your workforce at scale. Learners trained this way easily share lessons from a scenario.  This brings adaptation to a whole team. 

Team learning supplements Active Learning. It provides an affordable and faster alternative to training your team as a whole.

Collaborative learning is the backbone of an efficient learning organization. Quantic offers a collaborative environment that allows your team to develop courses. Employees gain and share knowledge, and boost your organization’s knowledge base.

You’re at the top of your game in your engineering field: solving problems, creating products, and applying what you learned from your graduate degree. 

But now it feels like it’s time to move up in the world, get more responsibility, and earn more money—but what’s the next step? 

Some engineers take a master’s in engineering degree at this point to improve their technical skills. Yet many engineers are also turning to business schools for MBA programs to step up their management skills.

Which path has greater benefits to your career progression? There’s some uncertainty as to whether an MBA is the right graduate program for engineers. 

So, to help you make an informed decision, we’ll take a deep dive into:

• The engineer’s career path
• Pros and cons of an MBA in the engineering field
• Which way to go to take your career to the next level

Let’s get to it.

Understanding the Engineer With an MBA Career Path

Your undergraduate degree empowers you with quantitative and problem-solving skills to get you into entry-level jobs. 

To stay competitive, you’re required to get a professional-level engineering qualification to earn your professional certification. 

You can continue to work quite comfortably with these credentials. However, when you feel a tingling desire to run after bigger things like promotions and more senior roles, you’ll need to take your learning a notch up. 

At this point, you have two options. To pursue an advanced degree in a strictly engineering field or broaden your horizons via the MBA route. 

If you follow the MBA path, you go through rigorous training in business acumen, project management, human resources, negotiation, and other soft skills. 

These skills combined with your engineering smarts catapult you into senior roles in engineering, senior administration, and managing teams. 

This is because you offer the best of both worlds to your employer—you’re a first-rate engineer with fluency in corporate and business language. 

You can land yourself roles like:

• Project Quality Manager 
• Product or Production manager
• Mechanical Engineering Principal Director 

Picture it this way; your career progression is akin to scaling a high-rise building. Everyone starts on the ground floor with basic engineering qualifications. Gaining more experience and education unlocks the access cards to higher floors. 

Without an MBA, your access can be capped at senior engineering-only roles. Whereas an MBA unlocks access to higher executive roles in business administration and engineering management. 

Engineering MBA Salary

The median salary for engineers with an MBA degree stands at around $100,000 per annum. Individual statistics may differ depending on the specific MBA program. 

According to statistics from Payscale, the salary scale for an MBA engineer is an average of $111,000 per year. Here are some average salaries for different sectors. 

• Principal Electrical Engineer  $138,860
• Senior Mechanical Engineer  $98,221
• Product Management Director $146,784
• Process Development Engineer $78,083
• Program Manager Engineering $111,087

Other salary statistics peg the salary for MBA engineers at between $130,462 and $138,960 each year.  

Statistics also show that holders of MBA engineering management degrees were reported to earn an average of $94,000 per annum.

Some job titles for MBA in engineering management holders include:

• Manufacturing engineer $74,100
• Business Manager $132,329
• Software Engineering Manager $78,990
• Senior Quality Engineer $71,927
• Senior Electrical Engineer $98,380
• Sales Engineering Manager $81,088

Engineer With No MBA vs. MBA Salary

Reports from The Bureau of Labor Statistics show that engineers with a Bachelor’s degree make at least 13% less than those with an MBA. For instance, mechanical engineers with a bachelor’s degree earn an average of $88,570 annually. 

In contrast, engineering managers in the civil and architectural field made about $149,530 per year on average.

The table below summarises some key salary differences for MBA vs. non-MBA engineers.

5 Benefits of an Engineering MBA

Apart from the salary gap, here are some of the main reasons why an MBA is a worthwhile investment.

An MBA Gives You a Deeper Understanding of Business

The business environment is complex. From dealing with forecasts about spending, warding off competitors, and managing projects, it often demands a lot from managers.

To succeed in a management role, you’ll need to be well versed in all the aspects that make the business flow. 

MBA programs can help you gain an in-depth understanding of how businesses work. The courses take a deep dive into modules like:

• Strategic management 
• Accounting for non-financial managers 
• The business environment 
• Marketing 
• Risk management
• Business ethics and leadership

With these skills, you’re better placed to fully deliver shareholder value, making you a valuable asset to any team. 

In addition, an MBA degree will help hone your people skills through courses like communication and human resource management. That way, you can effectively manage the personnel management element of managerial roles. 

An MBA Can Give Weight to Your Entrepreneurial Drive

As an engineer, you have a logical problem-solving mindset designed to bring solutions to complex problems. This technical point of view usually plants ideas and concepts for new products and solutions in your mind.

However, potentially great ideas can fizzle out if you don’t launch them into the business world properly. 

With an MBA from a top business school, you can gain the know-how and confidence you need to start the ball rolling on your project. Plus, learning about financial positions can help you figure out how to prepare the right documentation to entice investors into giving you funding. 

In addition, once you launch, you’re equipped to keep abreast of your financial situation, helping you transform your ideas into a profitable business. 

MBA’s Improve Your Career Options

An MBA adds weight to your resume that attracts quality employers. Big corporations often look for candidates with a mix of technical expertise and business skills to fill managerial posts. 

Having an MBA inspires confidence in your employers, making you eligible to qualify for promotions when the opportunity arises.

You’ll be regarded as an engineering management expert with a title to prove it.

An MBA Helps You Switch to Active Learning Mode 

From as early as the 1900’s, educators like Edgard Dale discovered that idly listening to information isn’t the best method of teaching and learning. 

The nature of a good MBA program follows an active learning path. This simply means the mode of instructions doesn’t passively feed you information. 

Instead, it focuses on active engagement through case studies, role play, discussions, and similar methods. 

Throughout the studies, your mind remains in active learning mode. How does this help you? 

With active learning mode, your mind retains more knowledge. On top of that, you’ll find it easier to relate real-life work experiences to your learning. 

By forming those active connections between the workplace and your studies, you’ll find applying knowledge to tasks a breeze. 

An MBA, therefore, puts you in the right position to actively apply knowledge in the workplace. 

Quantic’s MBA degree is all about active learning. The online MBA platform is designed to prompt learners to engage after every 8 seconds.

Plus, it allows you to give feedback about your progress throughout. The system will only allow you to proceed to the next level when you’ve mastered the previous one. 

That way, you stay engaged, and by the end of the course, you can be sure to have grasped all that you need to. 

With an MBA, You Can Tap Into Pedagogical Advancements

Pedagogy refers to methods of teaching and learning. In its advanced form, pedagogy is student-centered. It focuses on the student mastering the concepts, not on passing a test.

Gaining an MBA qualification through an advanced pedagogy-based program like Quantic’s MBA gives you the best learning opportunity.  

It’s no secret that how you learn influences how you teach. When you employ these teaching and learning techniques in your role as a manager, you become better at imparting instructions, helping and grooming subordinates, and inspiring teamwork. 

All these factors contribute together to making you an outstanding leader in your field. 

Quantic MBAs Have Already Helped Students To Advance Their Careers

Our student spotlight articles highlight how the revolutionary Quantic MBA is helping engineers advance their careers.

1. This article highlights the story of Patrick Glauner, an alumnus of Quantic’s mobile-friendly MBA program, who also holds a PhD in computer science. Patrick’s decision to pursue an MBA was driven by his desire to gain management skills that would enable him to oversee cross-functional teams and move into leadership positions. His technical training and MBA education helped him secure a management job at a major mechanical engineering company, Krones, and later start his own AI consulting company, skyrocket.ai.
2. Renee Fishel’s story shows how an MBA degree can be an effective tool for engineers looking to advance their careers into leadership and managerial roles. As an Engineering Manager at IBM, Fishel credits her Quantic MBA with formalizing her leadership instincts and differentiating her from her colleagues. She also emphasizes the role of leadership in building diverse teams and fostering a more inclusive environment, which is especially important in male-dominated industries.
3. You can read about Richard Lim’s experience here. Richard is a Technical Architect at Salesforce and the article explains why he chose to pursue an MBA with Quantic. It details his experience with the program; as someone in technical field who has found value in pursuing an MBA.

Cons of an Engineering MBA

You have to look at both sides of the coin to settle for the best decision. So let’s get into the cons of an MBA. 

MBA’s Are Expensive

The cost of getting an MBA runs into hundreds of thousands and can make a sizable dent in your pocket. 

The table below looks at the fee structure for an MBA program at selected colleges.

For online courses, here’s what you can expect to pay.

In contrast, Quantic’s MBA program is emphatically affordable. For $950 USD per month over the 15-month duration of the program, you get access to a top-rated online MBA program. In addition, case-by-case scholarships are available to help cover the cost of tuition. 

It’s Difficult to Find the Time to Complete MBA Classes

An MBA is demanding. The sheer volume of content, especially in unfamiliar business concepts, can drown you in hours of work. If you take an in-class program, juggling work and finding time for classes is a tall order. 

When comparing a traditional MBA degree vs. an online MBA program, the latter gives you more leeway to work around your schedule. 

However, even with online studies, if the course is dense, packed with dull lectures, and lacking engagement, it’ll overburden you. As an MBA student with an engineering background, you need a course designed to allow you to thrive.

Quantic’s MBA is structured in such a way that you can consume the material in bite-sized chunks. In addition, the interactive platform and active learning component make it easier and faster to grasp. You can get your MBA or EMBA in 15 months. 

An MBA Won’t Help if Your Career Has Already Progressed High Enough

The longer you work in your field of engineering, you gain experience and valuable skills. Through this experience, you can move up the pecking order into a senior managerial post.

When you’ve reached this point in your career, you may already be too high up the ladder; there isn’t anywhere else to go.

Getting an MBA when you’ve already climbed that far would only be an unnecessary cost. MBAs are more suited for engineers who still have some way to go to get to the top. 

An MBA Isn’t Necessary if You Plan on Sticking to Technical Skills

MBA programs are explicitly designed to teach the language of business like business economics and international business. 

If you’re more concerned with staying on the technical side and not in managing the business affairs, then the MBA may not be of much use to you.  

For instance, if you’d rather stay in a traditional engineering firm or stick to the hands-on side of things, then focus on expanding your technical engineering education. 

That said, if you still have an appetite for an MBA, here’s what you’ll get. 

MBA Course Curriculum & Syllabus for Engineers

A good MBA degree should include critical core and elective courses like the following: 

• Business. Your role in management will involve preparing forecasts for the business, like how much of the product you need to make. You’ll also handle the finances and get involved in the marketing of the product, so you need to gain the right business skills necessary to hold up the role. 

• Strategy. Without proper strategic planning and project management, any organization will fall flat on its face. That’s why, when you transition into a leadership role, you need to be equipped with business management skills. 

With accurate planning skills and your engineering management know-how, you can steer the organization in the right direction.

• Decision making. With the cutthroat competition in business, you have to be able to make critical decisions quickly. A good MBA program includes a statistics and data analytics component to help you with cost-benefit analysis.

• Leadership. Managing people and resources is a critical part of a manager’s role. Resources are often scarce, and a diverse pool of different personalities takes a lot of effort to harmonize. 

An MBA includes leadership as part of the business education to empower MBA students to ace engineering management positions.

MBA vs. Masters In Engineering

The choice between an MBA or a Master’s in engineering comes down to your career goals. 

If your aim is to lead the organization in a position requiring a technical and business touch, you can lean towards an MBA degree to advance your career progression. 

On the other hand, if you see yourself strictly as a scientist responsible for leading in a technical role, a master’s in engineering would be more suited to your goals. 

MBA Programs for Engineers

You can launch your path to executive-level engineering management roles through an MBA with one of three options. 

• A part-time or full-time in-class MBA with 20 to 25 fixed lectures per week for 12 to 21 months.

• An online option that gives you lectures, course materials, and exams for a minimum of 18 months.

• An online flexible MBA like Quantic’s MBA for 5 to 15 hours per week for a maximum of 15 months. 

You can opt for the traditional in-class and online options, but they’ll cost you an arm and a leg. 

A Quantic MBA offers the same recognized MBA qualification for a fraction of the cost. In addition, you get access to a fully interactive platform that’ll make learning simpler. 

Plus, you’ll get the papers to qualify for senior-level engineering management roles in no time. Apply now to get started with Quantic’s online MBA program.

Your workers are leaving. That’s bad business.

Employee turnover costs are pricey. Your competitors can swipe at them the next moment. You’ve got to do everything possible to retain your top talent.

From actionable tips to a walkthrough on developing an employee retention plan, this guide covers all there is to creating and implementing effective employee retention strategies.

Employees won’t just stay for extended periods anyway. So first, you need to understand the reason for the focus on employee retention.

Employee Retention Strategy: What’s the Big Deal?

A feasible employee retention strategy is a distinctive marker of a company set up for long-term success. It looks good to investors and is a solid bragging right to other business leaders. 

When you create a plan to keep your coveted talent, you save time and resources expended in the hiring and onboarding process for new staff. 

In a press release, the Society for Human Resource Management discovered that it takes an average of 42 days to fill a regular job position. 

In a nine-to-five situation, that’s 378 work hours lost due to a vacancy that could have been avoided.  

The Work Institute reports that employers have lost upwards of $600 billion due to a lack of a working plan to keep hold of their best team members. 

An effective employee retention strategy empowers forward-thinking enterprises with increased revenue, greater productivity, and improved company culture.  

HR departments are the key drivers of employee retention in an establishment. 

On the whole, they create, test, and implement these strategies. They also modify every so often based on evolving data.  

The Role of HR in Combating Employee Turnover

The function of HR departments in workforce retention strategy comes down to 4 essential responsibilities: 

• the recruitment and onboarding processes
• managing the employee experience 
• and conducting exit interviews.

Recruitment Process

The onus here is to identify candidates who are most likely to stay long-term. An actionable tip is to note how long they have stayed in previous employment via their LinkedIn profile or resume.

In the talent market, hiring managers should keep an eye out for candidates who have stuck through extended periods in recreational activities and volunteer work. This will help you make near-accurate speculations on their tenure at your company. 

Next, go on to assess the candidate’s values and how they align with the values your company holds dearly. You wouldn’t want to hire someone big on cutting corners when your company is rooted in honesty and following the rules. 

Onboarding Program

After every hiring process should come an onboarding program. 

Glassdoor found that organizations with an intentional onboarding program improved their employee retention rate by 82% and their productivity by 70%. 

The internet has made it easier than ever before for job hunters to seek out job openings and apply to them. This is where an effective onboarding program makes all the difference.

The onboarding process should include employee retention best practices like:

• Corporate training for all new hires
• Goals that keep employees eager to hit them
• Promoting teamwork 
• Keeping new employees abreast with company culture

Employee Experience

Creating a positively distinct working experience for your staff is one of the most successful employee retention strategies out there. 

What adjectives do your employees use to describe working at your company? Would they recommend someone to work there with enthusiasm? 

Encourage positive employee relations as this is an important aspect of your workers’ experience at your company. 

The feel members of your staff get would be determined by all the other factors talked about in this article.

Exit Interviews

In an ideal world, you create the perfect plan and all your employees stay. But in the real world, employee turnover is bound to happen regardless of the strategies you put in place. 

Before you let a worker go, make sure to conduct an extensive interview to know exactly why they’re leaving. This lets you keep a tab on destructive patterns your company might have and improves your employee retention rate in the long haul.  

Ask revealing questions to find out the motive behind your employees’ exit. In some cases, you can work out a solution and compel them to stay. In others, no amount of negotiation would suffice.

Developing an Employee Retention Plan

Follow this sequence to create a workable plan:

1. Evaluate to know where you’re at, and what work needs to be done. Document what you currently do and what you don’t. Review relevant metrics and note how the results of your documentation affect them.
2. Ask your employees for feedback on what they’d like best. Don’t make assumptions for your workers. Meet them individually and get a consensus. Use this consensus in the next stage.
3. Decide which strategies you’re going to use. This depends on results from your evaluation, your business type, and the kind of employees you have.
4. Start implementing. Don’t try to do it all at once. For example, bring in remote work options. Note how your stats change over a year. Keep adding and testing to see what works.

10 Talent Retention Strategies You Should Implement Today

#1 — Invest in Your Employees Growth

Employees will overlook a relatively lower pay in a job that gives them room to grow. 

This is not to promote lower pay, but to express the importance of making professional training opportunities for your staff. 

To show your employees that you have their professional interests in mind, create an in-house training program or take advantage of external learning opportunities. 

A step in the right direction is  QUANTIC’s tuition reimbursement program. Our MBA or Executive MBA program is affordable yet gives a disproportionate return on investment in terms of employee retention. 

People love to receive and your employees are no different. Championing the career growth of your staff by providing them with corporate training makes them see you as more of a partner that can be trusted than a demanding boss who they can’t wait to leave. 

#2 — Offer a Competitive Base Salary and Benefits

Asides from boosting their social standing, getting skills, and interacting with co-workers, people work to make money. It’s simple. 

Workers work to improve their financial situation and thus lead a more robust life. Offer a salary with benefits that’s hard to match and you’ve done more than half of the work needed in wooing your top talent to stay.  

Fundamental benefits employees consider before taking on a new job or looking elsewhere include:

• Health benefits 
• Insurance
• Money-back on education costs
• And a Retirement plan

Research to know the benefits your employees would appreciate the most. 

#3 — Provide Flexible Work Arrangements

Post covid-19, there has been a tremendous upward shift in the worth employees are placing on job flexibility, especially as regards working from home. 

FlexJobs’ 2019 annual survey reported that 80% out of 7300 workers would be more loyal to their employers if they had flexible work options. 

The same study found that working remotely full-time was the best-case scenario for respondents, occupying 76 percent of the poll. 

Flexible scheduling, part-time scheduling, and working remotely part-time follow behind with 72, 46, and 43 percent in order.

Flexible work schedules increase workforce productivity by reducing burnout.

When members of staff are better in control of their time,

• they allocate their best time to work. 
• They feel less stressed and more empowered. 
• They bring greater joy to their work. 

These ultimately manifest in higher quality work which is the essence of business.

#4 — Construct Ladders for Your Team Members to Climb

Employees would generally opt out of a job that pegs their income and professional status at a spot. 

As an HR professional or business owner, you have to be deliberate about constructing ladders for your employees to ascend. Progression boosts employee morale a great deal.

#5 — Study Relevant Data to Note Patterns

Protecting your workforce demands that you be well-informed about key HR statistics. Tracking important figures like your voluntary turnover rate will give you better insight into important trends. Both beneficial, and destructive.

Other measurables to track are:

• Employee turnover rate
• Voluntary turnover rate
• Employee turnover cost
• Employee tenure

#6 — Make Employees Feel Valued

Do not undermine your employees’ contributions.

Make promotions from time to time.

Praise rather than belittle them.

As apparent as these gestures might seem, only a small percentage of HR professionals implement them in their workplace. 

A case in point is data from Gallup’s 2017 State of the American Workforce report. 

Gallup recounts that a mere 3 out of 10 employees “strongly agree that in the last seven days they have received recognition or praise for doing good work.” 

Interestingly, so many statistics have proved the correlation between making staff feel appreciated and increased retention. 

For example, 90% of workers said they are more likely to stay at a company that takes and acts on feedback. 

So how do you make your employees feel valued? 

It’s important to note that everybody is different and what makes one employee feel valued might not make the other feel valued. 

That aside, some general tips that have worked for a lot of business owners are:

• Be transparent. Keep no secrets. Let your team in on vital information that affects everybody.
• Recognize hardworking team members publicly. 
• Be appreciative. Say thank you when your employees do things that move the needle forward. Regardless of if you pay them for it or not.
• Ask for their opinion. Ask for feedback and take it seriously. They can sometimes observe little things that you can not as the HR manager or business owner. 

While you’re at it, make sure every team member feels valued. From the cleaners to group leaders to senior management—The whole team is needed for the smooth sailing of the company.

#7 — Promote a Healthy Work-Life Balance

Healthy employees are better contributors to a company’s success. This is even more true when you think in light of their performance long-term. 

A few things to keep in mind:

• Don’t call or email staff outside work hours. 
• Make provisions for remote work options.  
• Notice employees who are burnout and give them time off.
• Offer paid vacations

#8 — Create a Conducive Company Culture

Company culture encompasses many things. From the color of your office walls to the tone workers use to interact with each other. These factors play a substantial part in determining whether your employees stay long or not. 

In light of employee retention, conducive company culture favors employee engagement. A step in the right direction is giving your employees some form of autonomy.

This makes them feel valued and less under pressure to do things a certain way. Focus on results rather than a routine.  

Organize team outings once in a while. Just chat and get to know members of your team. 

This releases tension in the air and puts your employees in a better position to be creative and come out with original ideas.  

An important aspect of company culture is teamwork. QUANTIC has this great professional course where we go deep into the dynamics of organizational behavior.

#9 — Create a Mentorship Program for New Hires

Team up an older employee with a new one. 

This saves everyone’s time and increases the efficiency of your staff.  

#10 — Transparency in Leadership

Transparency is a key driver of employee engagement. 

Coming out with vital changes in the workplace out of the blue can lead to a disconnect between employer and employee. 

Thus, the employee feels no remorse leaving at any new opportunity. Avoid favoritism. 

Be honest about income, policies and share news across all levels of the organizational ladder. 

You can’t claim to value every worker and reserve important news for high-level employees only. 

Remember: you’re a team. 

You need the entire team’s input to achieve success.  

An Employee Retention Program That Works

American Express is a classic example of a diligent company in ensuring that members of its team stay on board. Several online media outlets extol AmEx’s low turnover rates. One of such is its listing on CNBC’s list of companies workers don’t want to leave in 2020. 

A company that takes full advantage of QUANTIC’s tuition reimbursement program, Fortune says American Express has a: 

• 7% voluntary turnover rate for full-timers
• 9% for part-timers
• 16% of its workforce based in the US have been there for 20 years

5 Strategies American Express Uses to Retain Talent

Employee reviews are a great way to know what a company is truly about. Great Place to Work quotes AmEx’s workers as having said these:

• “When you join the company, you are made to feel welcome.”
• “Management is competent at running the business.”
• “I feel good about the ways we contribute to the community.”
• “I’m proud to tell others I work here.”
• “Our customers would rate the service we deliver as ‘excellent.’”

Going by these reviews, we can deduce that, American Express has its onboarding program down to the T. We see that there is good leadership, employees feel valued and there’s a lot of company culture present.

Make it a difficult decision for your employees to leave by taking advantage of QUANTIC’s tuition reimbursement program for MBA and EMBA degrees.

A QUANTIC stamp on a certificate signifies prestige, innovativeness, and business competence.

Take one action by signing up for QUANTIC’s tuition reimbursement program today. 

People come and go — employee turnover isn’t some newfangled concept. Even the best companies will have a reasonable amount of layoffs, terminations, and resignations. 

Yet, you’ll know you have a problem when you start spotting certain patterns that reveal out-of-the-ordinary work dynamics. 

• Are some of your top performers chronically dissipating? 
• Could this be down to employee dissatisfaction? 

If you diagnose high employee turnover, plenty is at stake. It’s a drain on your money, time, and resources. Your staff morale and reputation can suffer too.

But how do you prevent that from happening? 

Many organizations are turning to employee reimbursement programs to keep their talent engaged. HR teams are keeping their eye on modern employee demands, and corporate training and development is huge. 

With college costs on the rise, stepping in to offset them increases your company’s perceived value.

It’s also a surefire way to attract new high performers to your organization. According to a report by Gallup, 45% of Millennials report they would change their job for tuition reimbursement benefits. 

They’re also more likely to stay with the employer.

Want to attract, develop, and retain the highest-quality workforce? Our ultimate guide to tuition reimbursement will help. 

What Is a Tuition Reimbursement Program?

Tuition reimbursement is an arrangement between an employer and an employee where a company shoulders a part (or the whole) of tuition expenses for an employee’s continuing education.

This way, people with funding issues are more likely to pursue further studies.

How Does Tuition Reimbursement Work?

No two tuition reimbursement programs are equal, and this gives freedom to organizations. 

On average, employers pay $5,250 for undergraduate and $10,500 for graduate degrees. Yet, each organization places a cap on how much they cover, what courses qualify for reimbursement, etc. 

Below are just some of the points to consider when framing your education assistance programs. 

You can weigh your options, but don’t go too eclectic with it. Some of these choices may affect your tax benefit eligibility. Do a cross-check with a licensed tax professional before initiating a program of your own.

• Payment options Typically an employee pays upfront for a Bachelor’s degree or a graduate program. Upon class completion, a company reimburses a part of the expenses (or the full amount) to the employee. Other employers will help foot the bill right at the enrollment. 
• Types of educational classes Some employers offer benefits only for approved educational classes relating to the employee’s existing career.

Others cover any qualified education expense, but may require that coursework is done through specific institutions.

• Tiered payment levels Some reimbursement programs include tiered payment levels, which rely on student grades. 

For example, to qualify for a 100% reimbursement, a student must pass the course with an “A.” Those that score a “B” are in for an 85% reimbursement, and so on. 

• Service requirements Companies typically require an employee to remain with the company for a set period of time to qualify for the reimbursement. 
• Additional costs Some companies only bear direct tuition costs, while others shoulder extra coursework expenses such as books, internet connection fees, etc. 
• Open applications and partnerships Many programs reimburse courses from any accredited institution. Yet forming exclusive partnerships with higher ed institutions is catching on among organizations.  

About Employer-Provided Education Assistance

An education assistance program (EAP) is a benefit that includes several types of initiatives where an employer:

• Pays for education costs or offers tuition reductions to their employees. 
• Offers scholarship grants to an employee’s immediate family members.
• Assists with student loans.

If certain requirements are in check, these initiatives also benefit the employer.

For more information on educational assistance-related tax exemptions see this IRS website page. The IRS laws are in constant flux, so be sure to seek legal advice from a licensed tax professional.

How Does Tuition Reimbursement Benefit the Employer?

Organizations that provide tuition reimbursement do it for strategic reasons. It’s how they create a supportive environment and a continuous learning culture in their organization.

But here is a more in-depth business case for integrating it as one of your HR objectives:

Enhanced Recruitment

Companies that offer education assistance are likely to recruit top performers down the line.

These people are gunning for job positions that offer room for skills development. So, if you want to put yourself on the map as an attractive prospect for such workers, this factors in hugely.

A recent EdAssist study goes on to prove this in practice. 

84% of employees cited tuition assistance as an important factor in their decision to join their companies. In fact, 71% of participants rated tuition assistance among the best benefits offered by their employers after healthcare.

Better Employee Engagement

Your job doesn’t stop at raking in top talent. One of the top HR challenges is tackling complacency and keeping hard-earned hires on the ball. Even the most engaged worker will fall asleep if you put him in an unsupportive environment. 

High achievers need to be exposed to new opportunities to thrive. EAPs are a seamless solution.  

Improved Employee Retention

More than 27% of employees each year are lost to companies thanks to lack of career development. Being the first to offer in-demand learning and development opportunities gives you a head start in attracting the better portion of this fluctuating workforce. 

In more than 80% of cases, tuition assistance programs improved employee work satisfaction.

That said, tuition assistance programs  can help you rake in long-term workers and reduce employee turnover. Cigna is a good case in point here.

You can say the program moved the needle for the company. They saw a 129% return on investment partly due to reduced employee turnover. This success was paired with 43% higher pay gains for the employees as well. 

Tax Deduction Benefits

And here comes the best part: tuition reimbursement programs can help companies reduce their tax burdens. You can deduct up to $5,250 per employee a year. 

Why Is Education Reimbursement a Valuable Benefit for Employees

Education reimbursement is as valuable to employees as it is to employers.

Businesses earn their brownie points with potential hires. Employees get a well-rounded acumen in their field of work.

This is not a story-like narrative spectated through rose-tinted glasses. Education assistance programs (EAPs) help people gain a true professional advantage.

They’re being primed to advance into their dream jobs. 

Below is how they play out in the real world (backed up with the data from Lumina Foundation research). EAP participants are:

• 10% more likely to be promoted.
• 43% more likely to advance to higher-paying positions. 
• 7.5% more likely to receive an internal transfer.
• 8% more likely to stay with the employer.

Without an EAP, pursuing educational goals is not an option for many people. Paying for a potential hire to round out his or her education is a true perk.

Why Companies Should Pay for Employees’ College Tuition

Still not convinced employee assistance programs make business sense? Stay tuned as we’re bringing you some more note-worthy statistics from well-grounded research. 

How Many Employees Use Tuition Reimbursement?

In the meantime, only two to five percent of eligible employees utilize tuition assistance programs. A staggering 43 percent of working professionals are unaware of this employee benefit.

How so? Information doesn’t always get to people — and this can be the possible culprit. But most of the time, the conditions people have to meet to qualify may thwart their plans to apply in the first place.

• Employees are often required to pay back tuition reimbursement if they leave within a certain timeframe.
• Time pressure and the money factor may also add to the low response rates.
• High levels of student debt should also be factored in. 

Monetize from what you’ve just learned. Initiate and promote your training and advancement programs. Also, consider pre-paying for your employees’ coursework to prompt them to participate. 

Tuition Reimbursement and Employee Engagement

A tuition reimbursement program can enhance your team’s academic development prospects. This alone carries weight that is likely to impact employee engagement in your organization.

But there’s more. Research shows these programs also make people better strategic thinkers. This, in turn, makes them more prone to assume higher leadership roles.

The graph below shows what a powerful driving force tuition assistance programs can be. It shows how effective they are in creating a highly-skilled team committed to their organizations. 

The graph below is drawing from the data on a 2018 EdAssist study. The respondents assessed how tuition reimbursement programs impacted their career growth. 

Companies That Provide Tuition Reimbursement

Many companies still have their educational assistance initiatives lined up, but which ones are already leveraging these impactful employee benefits? 

Companies run policies with different cost coverage and eligibility requirements. 

To illustrate, oil giant BP grants a generous 90 percent coverage of tuition costs, books, and fees. To qualify for the program, employees must enroll in approved classes and receive a passing grade.

Other big-name companies that provide tuition assistance programs: 

• JetBlue
• Starbucks
• Home Depot
• AT&T

Designing Your Education Assistance Program 

Kicking off a tuition reimbursement program is a complex long-term enterprise requiring strategy. Only a masterfully crafted plan will have overarching positive effects on your business. 

So, first off, make sure you include expert guidance from accountants, attorneys, and consultants every step of the way. 

The human resources department should make sure the initiative is in line with the organization’s strategic objectives. 

Having an education assistance program in place is an excellent way to create new career pathing opportunities. If a CEO is not aware of such a policy’s benefits, an HR professional should present a business case and draw out the basic strategy.

Below are some factors to consider: 

• Align company goals and employee goals. Draw up a plan for your company’s education assistance program. What’s the end goal? Once you have it figured out, see how to fit your employee’s goals within that framework.
• Weigh in your options before developing a learning plan. Is your program flexible enough, so it fits the unique needs of your employees? What about providing added flexibility by offering online education options? 
• Stay transparent and maintain good internal communication. Staying on the same page with the participants will help you design a program that directly influences your business’s trajectory in the ways you want.

Corporate Tuition Reimbursement at Its Finest

Ready to up your HR game? Offering a tuition reimbursement program through Quantic School of Business and Technology will make you a magnet for top talent. 

We pride ourselves in bringing rigorous MBA education to both early-career high achievers and well-rounded, highly accomplished leaders. And we’re radically affordable.   

Our Executive MBA accredited degree program is your reliable ally in leadership development.

Don’t waste your organization’s human potential: join the list of companies that offer tuition reimbursement through Quantic.

Why, you ask? Well, the reasons are quite simple.

Here’s the sampling of a few companies that have offered tuition reimbursement to employees enrolled in Quantic’s programs: 

• Salesforce
• Apple
• Adobe
• GE
• IBM
• LinkedIn
• JP Morgan Chase
• Oracle

And there’s more. Our up-to-date accredited degrees are highly competitive — and for the following reasons. They:  

• Are highly cost-effective. You can get our MBA programs at a fraction of the cost of traditional top business school programs. 

While some of those programs run upwards of $200K, our program is available for just $950 USD per month over the 15-month duration of the program. 

• Save you valuable time. Thanks to mobile-first technology, our programs are fast and flexible. Our 100% online coursework allows students to learn on a flexible schedule, allowing them to complete a degree within 15 months.  
• Bring enviable results to organizations. Quantic is a digital alternative to top traditional MBA programs. Our programs are proven to be as effective as top-ranked business schools like Harvard, Wharton, and Fuqua.   

Why waste your best resources — human potential, money, and time? 

Join the world’s top companies that reimburse their employees for Quantic’s degree programs.