Joining the likes of Starbucks and Chrysler, Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. announced Thursday that it would extended full tuition reimbursements to all employees.
“We just made an announcement internally that we are now going to be offering sick pay and paid vacation time for all employees at all levels of the company, including all entry-level employees,”JD Cummings, recruitment strategy manager at Denver-based Chipotle, said at an annual summer brand camp.
“And we’re going to be offering the full-tuition reimbursement that we offer salaried employees to all hourly employees.”
The benefits will kick in July 1, Nation’s Restaurant News reported.
Chipotle hires about 95 percent of managers by promoting from within, so they hope these new benefits will help recruit and retain current high school and college students — “our target demographic for entry-level positions in the restaurant,” Cummings said.
“We have a lot of folks who, if they realize they could make a career with Chipotle, would stick with us while they are in college and take advantage of our tuition-reimbursement program,” he continued. “They could find the path to restaurateur is an amazing path that they might not have thought of.”
Expanding tuition benefits for hourly employees has been a trend this year.
In April, Starbucks announced that it would cover four years for an online college degree from Arizona State University for its more than 140,000 full- and part-time workers. The chain plans to see at least 25,000 graduates by 2025.
The United States division of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles also announced this year that it will offer free college tuition at Strayer University to the 118,000 employees at its Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram, and Fiat dealerships. Any part-time and full-time employees who have worked at a dealership for 30 days can enroll in an associate, bachelor’s, or master’s degree program at Strayer University, either online or on a physical campus.
