Synchrony commits $50M for education, workforce initiatives
STAMFORD — Synchrony, the country’s largest provider of privatelabel credit cards, announced Thursday an approximately $50 million initiative in the next five years to support higher education, workforce training and financial literacy for its workforce and underserved communities.
Stamford-based Synchrony’s investment in the “Education as an Equalizer” initiative includes more than $20 million in grants from the Synchrony Foundation for education and workforce development — including a new training center at its headquarters — for workers and students from low-income backgrounds and other underrepresented groups, particularly the Black, Hispanic and Native American communities. The approximately $30 million in remaining funds will go toward career-development opportunities for the Fortune 500 firm’s approximately 16,500 employees and programs to build a diverse talent pipeline and support financial-literacy initiatives.
“‘Education as an Equalizer’ is about giving people the tools to succeed in a digital-first economy. It’s the right initiative at the right time,” DJ Casto, Synchrony’s chief human resources officer, said in an interview. “I think we’ve all been doing a lot of deep reflection as we’ve been on this journey with the pandemic and a variety of other really important topics such as racial injustice and greater
equality for all.”
Among the educational programs supported by the initiative, the Synchrony Foundation will provide scholarships, mentorships and internships. Partnering with the company’s employee diversity networks, the foundation will work with academic institutions, including several historically Black colleges and universities and nonprofit organizations to choose students.
Synchrony officials said that they are responding to stark disparities. Only 14 percent of the lowest-income students earn a bachelor’s degree within eight years of first enrolling, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
The foundation will also give grants to schools and nonprofits to provide hunger relief to vulnerable students and their families.
To support its workforce, Synchrony offers tuition reimbursement of up $20,000 per year for full-time employees to gain degrees in areas related to their work. The company does not require employees to stay at the firm for a certain amount of time after receiving those benefits.
Many of those who receive financial aid for their education are part of the company’s contingent of more than 10,000 call center workers. The tuition reimbursement helps to reduce turnover within that group, according to company officials.
“For some, they may have done a great job being a contact center associate, but their longerterm passion is to be a schoolteacher or a nurse,” Casto said. “It takes a significant amount of time to work and go to school. We have the ability to offer flex schedules and invest through tuition reimbursement. If we have an employee who stays with us for five or six years while they acquire their degree, there’s a big ROI (return on investment) for us.”
Focus on workforce development and financial literacy
“Education as an Equalizer” will also support career training and certifications in fast-growing fields such as cybersecurity, software engineering, data science and UX design.
In its home state, Synchrony is partnering with the Connecticut Governor’s Workforce Council and technology-training firm General Assembly to launch later this year a “reskilling center” at the company’s Stamford headquarters. The center will host a three-month training program in software engineering run by General Assembly. The first cohort will include about two-dozen participants.
“To emerge from this crisis stronger, it's critical that we build more accessible on-ramps for those hit hardest by the pandemic to secure meaningful work in high-demand fields,” Liz Simon, General Assembly’s chief operating officer, said in a statement. “What we've seen firsthand is that removing barriers to digital skills training in local communities not only unlocks life-changing career opportunities for individuals but also contributes to a more diverse and equitable tech talent ecosystem.”
To be eligible for the General Assembly program, candidates must be a Connecticut resident, in financial need and a member of at least one underrepresented group. The company’s definition of the latter category includes women, racial and ethnic minorities, people with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ community. Tuition costs will be fully reimbursed.
“We want to provide a space that allows you to gain access without any of the barriers to paying for the certification,” Casto said.
For years, Synchrony’s headquarters has hosted other education and career-development programs such as the nonprofit Girls Who Code’s computer science program.
Among related staff benefits, Synchrony reimburses employees up to $9,000 per year for technology certifications “mapped to critical skills in high-growth fields.” In addition, the company said it is prioritizing the hiring and retention of Black employees without four-year degrees into “middle-skill and family-sustaining wage jobs.”
Synchrony’s financial-literacy initiatives will include free online courses to support students who receive Synchrony Foundation scholarships. The company said it will also continue to make free personal-finance resources available on Synchrony.com, with a focus on those most affected by the pandemic.