Giving Compass' Take:

• Walmart's employee development program is gaining success as the company makes education programs easy and financially accessible for all of it's employees.

• What potential road blocks lie in the way of this development program?

• Learn about other successful programs in the Giving Compass Workforce Development Guide.

For businesses large and small, access to massive online learning platforms has made upskilling employees (and even candidates) an attainable goal. Walmart, for example, has found success with a learning program that's both accessible and substantive — and all for, apparently, $1 a day from employees.

The program offers access to online degree programs through the University of Florida, Brandman University and Bellevue University. Walmart and Sam’s Club employees enjoy discounted tuition and books, plus access to a coach who helps them navigate the process. The program is open to full- and part-time staffers who have worked for the company for more than 90 days.

Walmart, which has more than 2 million employees, opened its 100th employee training center in 2017. The company has upskilled tens of thousands of staffers in the last three years in a deliberate commitment to learning, but "employees wanted more," according to Erica Jones, senior manager communications of Walmart.

Employees are asked to pay only $1 a day — less than the cost of a single semester. The response has been strong, according to the company; at the end of May, only two months into the program, employees had scheduled almost 30,000 appointments with its partner, Guild Education, to discuss education options. More than 2,000 have already submitted their finalized forms to schools.

"Walmart’s investment has kicked off what might be the most scalable solution to increasing access to higher education," Rachel Carlson, CEO and co-founder of Guild Education, told HR Dive via email. "At the same time, a growing body of research shows Walmart is making a smart business decision by investing in the growth and development of their frontline associates."

Read the full article about Walmart's employee development program by Riia O'Donnell at HR Dive