Workforce Edge: Providing Avenues for Talent Mobility and Career Development
Workforce Edge connects employees with a broad spectrum of educational opportunities. For HR leaders, including managers of total rewards, business partners, benefits managers, and recruiters, it can also be an essential part of talent recruitment and development strategies.
Recently, experts at Workforce Edge discussed the ways the platform supports these efforts. More specifically, they explained how Workforce Edge facilitates workforce development, talent mobility, and recruitment initiatives. They also illuminated how the platform is designed to help employers assess and maximize the effectiveness of their existing education benefits.
Based on conversations you’ve had with partnering organizations, what are some recruitment challenges leaders are facing at the moment?
Anne Hile, Manager, Enterprise Partner and Program Management, Workforce Edge:
“Many organizations are struggling to source enough candidates to fill open positions, particularly in frontline retail and similar roles. The labor market is highly competitive, and job seekers have numerous options. As a result, companies must differentiate themselves by offering clear and compelling career development pathways, especially for younger employees who often expect rapid advancement.
These candidates are looking for assurance that their growth will be supported through career-aligned learning opportunities. When entering at the entry level, they want to understand what comes next. It’s essential for hiring (and all) managers to clearly outline the steps toward future roles and advancement."
“For an organization to survive, its rate of learning needs to be able to keep up with its rate of growth.”
-Pat O’Rourke, Senior Manager, Partner Engagement, Workforce Edge
Michael Dakunchak, Enterprise Account Executive, Workforce Edge:
“One of the themes that keeps coming up in conversations with senior leaders is how, depending on the generation of workers, their expectations will be very different. For example, a lot of Gen Z employees expect to have their career paths mapped out and supported by their employers at various stages. This includes learning and development opportunities. Leaders need to think about this to remain competitive when attracting talent.”
Pat O'Rourke, Senior Manager, Partner Engagement, Workforce Edge:
“I think there are going to be even greater challenges caused by the silver tsunami, where baby boomers are leaving the workforce at a rapid pace. Plus, the rising cost of education means that younger employees are thinking differently about how to approach it.
Do they need student loans, or can they pursue upskilling programs with less of a financial burden? Do they have access to education pathways? To address all of these trends, more and more organizations are moving to a skills-based hiring approach—but they need to put an ecosystem in place to develop these employees, giving them the opportunities they expect and asking themselves, ‘what’s the best way to do this?’”
As employers develop their talent mobility strategies, how can Workforce Edge help?
Anne Hile:
“Much of our work centers on reshaping the perception of education benefits. These programs should not be seen as underutilized perks, but as strategic tools that drive value across the organization. Workforce Edge partners with employers to highlight how education benefits can positively influence not only employee upskilling and workforce development, but also recruitment, talent acquisition, and the reduction of attrition costs. Investing in the growth of internal talent creates measurable, long-term impact.”
Michael Dakunchak:
“Companies need to rethink and unlock the potential that is often sitting within their current education benefits policy. A large part of our work is consulting with our prospective and current employer partners to help them ensure their benefit policy and programs are keeping pace with the rate of change happening in their organization. SEI and Workforce Edge act as a catalyst and lever they pull to improve the narrative around spend and ROI.”
Pat O’Rourke:
“I participated in an industry event recently, and a CHRO gave a really great presentation where they discussed that idea that many employees are experiencing FOBO at the moment—a ‘fear of being obsolete.’ From our team’s perspective, we see a lot of potential in this idea. With Workforce Edge, we help organizations become a place of learning, with access to education pathways without financial burden and greater upskilling opportunities.”
“Skills are the new currency. Workforce Edge offers access to the kinds of skill-building and credentialling programs that employees are looking for to help them achieve success at a fast rate.”
-Anne Hile, Manager, Enterprise Partner and Program Management, Workforce Edge
How can leaders prioritize workforce development through education benefits? How does Workforce Edge help with upskilling and talent mobility?
Anne Hile:
“This aligns closely with our role as strategic consultants. One of the key strengths of our team is helping partners modernize their education benefit programs to position them as effective recruitment tools. Many organizations come to us describing their current programs as outdated or underutilized. We guide them in rethinking how these benefits are structured and delivered. For instance, if funding for certifications is currently managed within individual business units, we might explore whether consolidating it under a centralized education budget would enhance efficiency and impact."
“We offer our partners control, flexibility, and ongoing assessments. We stay engaged throughout the process—using data to grant them control over how things are performing, making sure they’re achieving their business goals.”
-Michael Dakunchak
Pat O’Rourke:
“We help partners modernize their offerings. For a lot of workers, a traditional four-year degree isn’t something they want to seek out. They’re more interested in upskilling opportunities. Yet some organizations’ benefits packages only cover tuition assistance for degree programs. This isn’t as effective as it could be. You can't have a policy written in 2008 for the 2025 workforce.”
Michael Dakunchak:
“We help our partners reimagine what is possible and work together to identify the outcomes and impact they would like to enable across their organization. Workforce Edge is focused on providing real time data, analytics, and reporting to ensure our clients have a direct line of sight into how their program and budget is performing while remaining flexible and nimble as organizational priorities shift.”
Pat O’Rourke:
“It’s always a collaborative process, built on our expertise. As a provider of learning and workforce development opportunities, our parent company, Strategic Education, Inc., helps more than 1,400 employer partners upskill and retain their workforces by providing access to tuition savings and other education benefits. So, throughout our work—the offerings we're bringing to our employer partners—we have all the technical knowledge from our Workforce Edge platform, but also the strategic relationships that our parent company has built. We leverage all of those relationships to ensure our partners are creating the most job-ready employees through their education benefits programs.”
To discuss talent mobility strategies or explore upskilling options for your team, contact a Workforce Edge specialist today.
Workforce Edge connects employees with a broad spectrum of educational opportunities. For HR leaders, including managers of total rewards, business partners, benefits managers, and recruiters, it can also be an essential part of talent recruitment and development strategies.
