Hilton expands education benefits to offer workers high school diplomas

Hilton has enhanced its employee education assistance program to include education company Cengage’s Career Online High School program.

The program aims to help more than 5,000 eligible Hilton workers receive their accredited high school diplomas; the program is different than a traditional GED program. Graduates of the program also can opt into earning a credentialed career certificate in one of four fields — general career preparation, office management, food and hospitality, and retail customer service; or one of four careers — childcare and education, commercial driving, homeland security and certified protection officer. Cengage says more than more than 80% of graduates self-report they plan to enroll in additional post-secondary training upon completing COHS.

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COHS is offered free to Hilton’s U.S. team members with at least six months of service and who are working at a corporate office or an owned/managed property.

“This program is still relatively new for Hilton,” says Gareth Fox, Hilton’s vice president of human resources, Americas. “However, we are very excited about its prospects.”

See also: McDonald’s supersizes education benefits

The benefit was announced internally in August, Fox says. So far, about 30 employees expressed interest in the program and a third of those employees enrolled in the two-week pre-requisite program. Five employees have successfully completed the prerequisite and are enrolled in the full program, Fox says.

Hilton’s employee education assistance program, which includes a tuition reimbursement benefit, provides up to $1,000 to each employee annually, Fox says.

Hilton isn’t the only company to offer Cengage’s COHS benefit. In July, McDonald’s announced that the first group of employees graduated from the 18-month program.

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