A learning and development stipend is an amount of money given to employees for them to spend on learning initiatives to help them advance their skills.
Updated November 14, 2023 by Sarah Bedrick
Learning and development stipends for employees have been gaining in popularity over the past few years, especially as a way to both improve employee productivity and increase retention.
But, as more companies turn to L&D perks to better solve for the unique needs of their employees, more questions arise.
That's why we developed the definitive guide to everything you need to know about these education-forward, people-first stipends:
First, a definition:
A learning or education stipend is a sum of money given to employees for them to spend on learning initiatives that are relevant to them and their needs.
Further details on what they are:
To the left is a screenshot from Buffer's $20/month learning and development stipend.
To achieve their learning goals, it wasn't just one learning platform or program that Buffer's employees used; their team spent money on 15 unique categories.
How could an HR or People Operations professional create a program that supports this diversity of needs?
This perfectly illustrates the power of a perk stipend or lifestyle spending accounts.
(Compt customers see 90% engagement rates!)
Learning and development can take on various forms: coaching, classes, conferences, training, learning through books, and many others.
To help solve for these varied methods of learning and development, learning stipends have quickly emerged as one of the best - and most popular - forms for encouraging employees to always be learning. A learning and development stipend, rather than a formal learning platform, has really become the go-to education-based lifestyle benefits solution for HR teams because it's so much more flexible and effective than the traditional "we pick the learning process or path" for you.
Benefits of learning stipends include:
Educational stipends aren't new, but like most other employee perks, there isn't too much data directly associated with them.
Below find stories, relevant statistics, and more from companies who are offering these to their employees:
There is no one-size-fits-all learning stipend as every company's size, budget, and focus on learning inis different. Check out how the culture giants below leverage the flexibility and personalization of learning stipends.
Employees receive $500 annually towards a personal development opportunity of their choice and $2000 annually for professional development. That’s a significant monetary investment on employee learning and development.
Through Compt, Webflow offers a $1,000/year learning and development stipend for their employees.
As mentioned above, Buffer spends $20/month on every employee to learn in three main ways: core learning, stretch learning, and holistic development.
Help Scout has a "Learn Something Stipend" where each employee is given $1,800 to spend annually on learning.
Olark has a professional development budget of $2,000/year to use on classes, books, software, conferences, etc. -- whatever helps their team learn.
Balsamiq gives their employees $3,000/year to spend on books, classes, or travel, accommodation and fees for attending conferences.
Smartsheet provides their employees $1,000/year to spend on learning-related items.
As noted in this Forbes piece, Andrew Geant, co-founder of Wyzant offers their employees $2,000 per year in learning stipends.
If you invest in your people, they will invest in you.
As famous speaker Jim Rohn once said, "When you invest in people and lift them toward their potential, they will love you for it." From career coaching to conferences and books, learning stipends let managers and employees pick the best path for them to reach their potential.
Below are some ideas as to how your employees and your company can get the most out of your learning stipend:
A learning stipend that isn't documented and doesn't have a formal process only leads to confusion.
We've all been at organizations that haven't properly outlined exactly what the benefit is, what's covered, and how to take advantage. This leads to more questions for employees and more questions for HR to address.
Eliminate questions, confusion, and lop-sided support for only some people by properly documenting how much people have, how it can be used, and how to best redeem this perk. You can document this process on an internal wiki, like Atlassian or Tettra, or manage the whole process through a perk software like Compt (hey there!).
Let your potential employees know that you're committed to their continued development and you make this possible by giving them a stipend to pick the best methods of learning for them.
Buffer found that about 27% of their team took advantage of their learning stipend, however, at Compt, we find that ~80% of employees take advantage of their company's monthly stipends.
Set a utilization, adoption, or participation metric that you're shooting for, and then create a process to support that.
One example of a good process is by developing training to help people managers at your company find ways to get their team members to take advantage.
Since today's labor market is crowded. With three of the six billion companies in today's US labor market being hyper-competitive, finding and keeping talent isn't easy. By having a clear and powerful mission, vision, and values (MVV), you're able to find people who have similar beliefs which will attract them to your business.
Double down on your MVV by investing in it. If you have a value of "Always be learning", then having a learning stipend tied to that really helps you walk the walk.
As we mentioned above, you can keep your stipend's spending as open or closed as you want. We find that the more you let your team decide what's best for them, the happier, more productive and empowered they will be.
Below are some of the items people have purchased through their Learning & Development Stipends (through Compt):
A perk stipend makes it possible for companies to offer more perks, with less money and ensure that they are personalized to meet the needs of their people.
Below are some of the popular types of stipends:
Ready to set up a learning stipend for your team?
Foster a culture of learning and growth by investing in your employees' professional development.
