FCA is offering a chance for employees at its U.S. dealerships to get a free college education.
Fiat Chrysler is offering employees at some of its U.S. dealerships the chance to go to college for free through a collaboration with Strayer University.
Through the Degrees@Work program employees can earn no-cost college degrees. Initially, it will be available on in the Southeast, but the idea is to help dealers attract high potential employees as well as improve employee retention rates.
“Many of our dealers have expressed concern over the availability of talent to fill open positions due to business growth and turnover in their stores, especially in metro markets,” said Al Gardner, head of Dealer Network Development, and president & CEO of the Chrysler Brand, FCA US LLC.
“Our goal is to position our dealer network as the ’employers of choice.’ Our collaboration with Strayer demonstrates our focus on building our dealers’ hard-working employees’ skillsets to help them perform at an optimal level while also investing in their long-term success.”
The program allows employees to earn associate’s, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees. Strayer University is a postsecondary institution with a more than 120-year history educating working adult students at campus locations across the country and online.
The automaker is rolling out the program in phases and they’ll start with 356 Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram and Fiat dealerships in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee.
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Employees can choose from a variety of degrees including: business administration and accounting, education and information systems. There are several options. Strayer provides an advantage as many of the courses are offered online, which means access at any time of the day or night providing the flexibility many working folks need when trying secure a degree while being employed full time.
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Credit will be offered to dealers’ employees for training and work experience to accelerate completion of a degree program.
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“Dealers tell us that education is a benefit frequently-requested by their employees,” Gardner said. “With the increasing cost of a college education, offering free college degrees without the burden of debt presents a significant value that we are pleased to provide and that differentiates us from our competitors. It will certainly help us attract and retain strong talent.”