Been reading threads here and there, and noticed people saying something along the lines of “if you are lucky enough, your company may even pay for you to get an MBA”. Why exactly would a company do that? Seems like a very expensive bill to train a worker when you could always just hire someone with an MBA already for the job.
I’ve also considered maybe they aren’t really paying for it, merely just “loaning” you the money while you work it off at their company. Or is it a long-term investment to hire a good worker w/o an MBA for a lower salary and then pay for their MBA opposed to just hiring a good worker w/ an MBA for a higher salary?
From The Business Side:
It largely depends on the industry and the reasons for subsidizing MBAs also varies. If you look at it from a client facing banking, management consulting, or c-level business position, an MBA acts as a selling point to consumers or clients that the company and person you are working with know what they are doing. Basically “Hey look at this guy/girl, she went to an MBA program and businesses are his/her thing so you can confide in investing your resources with us.”
These subsidized costs are typically for high performers within the company and most definitely are not an automatic incentive that any employee can take advantage of as opposed to health insurance or a salary.
From The Employee Side:
Here’s the issue, people looking into MBA programs are in it to network and open new opportunities with new companies at a higher position. For a company to sponsor your MBA, which by the way typically isn’t full coverage and is based on your academic performance, you typically have to sign a contract stating that you will remain with the company for a given period after graduation (I’ve heard 2-4 years from colleagues at different companies). You end up having a conflict of interest between where you want to work and your tuition.
The business rationale for this is that the period of time you remain within the company after your MBA provides a higher return for the company than the $$ they shelled out to sponsor you.