IRVINE, Calif., March 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Taco Bell today
announced that it's partnering with Guild Education to provide
education support for all 210,000 team members in its system of
7,000 restaurants in the U.S. As one of Guild's largest partners to
offer education benefits across its entire system, Taco Bell team
members will have access to personalized college advisors and
tuition discounts for thousands of classes, certificates and
degrees from day one of their career at Taco Bell.
"When we surveyed our employees, education support was one of
the top three things they asked for," said Frank Tucker, Global Chief People Officer at
Taco Bell. "The barriers to achieving their education goals were
time, money and support. Our partnership with Guild delivers on all
of these needs for our employees through access to online classes,
financial aid guidance, tuition assistance and a personal counselor
to support each student in real time."
All Taco Bell corporate and franchise employees will have access
to Guild's academic and financial aid coaches and discounts to
Guild's education partners – a network of 80 online non-profit
universities and learning providers, offering Bachelor's and
Master's degrees, programs such as high school completion and
English-as-a-second-language and a wide selection of certificates.
Taco Bell corporate employees, along with employees of
participating franchisees, will also have access to up to
$5,250 per calendar year in tuition
assistance including books and supplies, paid up front so that
employees don't have any out of pocket costs. Additionally, all
employees can get college credit for on-the-job restaurant
training, which could save an employee up to an additional
$5,000, bringing their potential
total savings to more than $10,000.
Taco Bell piloted its partnership with Guild in 2017 in about
700 corporate-owned restaurants, and more than 2,000 employees have
since worked with a Guild coach to go back to school. Those who
enrolled in a course, program or degree through Guild had a 98
percent retention rate over six months, a 34 percent increase over
employees not enrolled. This added benefit will support Taco Bell's
plans to create 100,000 new jobs in the U.S. as part of the
company's 2022 growth goals. In 2018 alone, Taco Bell plans to open
more than 250 new restaurants in the U.S., creating thousands of
new jobs and increasing the company's need to attract and retain
top talent.
"Taco Bell's emphasis on employee development made them an ideal
partner for us," said Guild Education CEO Rachel Carlson. "Taco Bell's 'Start With Us,
Stay With Us' philosophy aligns perfectly with Guild's value of
giving employees education pathways to advance their careers – both
at Taco Bell and beyond in future roles. We're delighted to help
each Taco Bell employee find the right university or program to
pursue their education, and our team at Guild will be with them
every step of the way as they pursue their academic and career
goals."
Taco Bell doesn't require employees to put in any time before
signing up for these new Guild benefits, so employees can take
advantage of the education benefits on day one. The Guild
partnership joins existing education offerings such as the Live Más
Scholarship and GED programs, that provide employees support no
matter where they are in their education journey. All of these
programs are part of Taco Bell's "Start With Us, Stay With Us"
platform, which encourages employees to leverage the
career-building and education programs that Taco Bell offers no
matter how long they've been with, or plan to stay with, the
company.
Taco Bell employees can learn more about the partnership and
services available to them at
www.guildeducation.com/partners/tacobell.
About Guild Education
Guild Education is transforming
the way companies offer Education as a Benefit to their workers.
Guild Education's technology makes offering education benefits and
tuition reimbursement an easy choice for leading companies, with a
platform that helps HR leaders turn their education cost centers
into a positive ROI. The company's diverse network of online,
nonprofit universities offers a range of programs from GEDs through
bachelor's and master's degrees, along with advising and retention
coaching to help each student navigate the worlds of work and
college. In 2016, Guild Education was one of only a small number of
women-led companies to receive a share of total venture capital
funding when they raised their Series A round. As of today, Guild
Education has raised a total of $31.5
million in funding from Bessemer Ventures, Redpoint
Ventures, Harrison Metal, and Cowboy Ventures. To learn more about
Guild Education, visit www.Guildeducation.com
About Taco Bell Corp.
For information about Taco Bell,
visit www.TacoBell.com/News or find us on social
media. Like: Facebook.com/tacobell --
Follow: @TacoBell (Twitter), tacobell (Instagram)
and tacobell (Snapchat) --
Subscribe: YouTube.com/tacobell – Explore: ta.co
Polly Zintak, on behalf of Taco
Bell
Polly.Zintak@edelman.com
Lauren Clancy, on behalf of Guild
Education
guild@mightypr.com
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SOURCE Taco Bell Corp.