Ask Your Boss About This Idea

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By Newsweek Editors

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Leading the list of desirable employee benefits in the 1980s was help with child care. Now RJR Nabisco is pioneering what could become this decade's most sought-after perk: college-tuition assistance. Executives of the cigarette and snack manufacturer say their lofty goal is to eliminate financial barriers to higher education for all their employees' children. Starting in the 1992-93 academic year, RJR Nabisco will offer a range of financial aid, including scholarships and loan subsidies. Under a tax-deferred savings plan, the company will match annual contributions of up to $1,000 for each of a child's four years in high school. The plan is available to all of RJR Nabisco's 35,000 U.S. employees-except for the top 147 executives. "We have no doubt that those people ought to be able to pay for their own children's education, "said a spokesman. "This is not meant to be a perk for senior management."

With tuition fees soaring, benefits experts predict that the RJR Nabisco initiative could spur other companies to think about instituting similar plans. "This is the leading edge, " says Denise Georgemiller, a benefits consultant with Hewitt Associates in Lincolnshire, Ill. Of course, the recession could derail even the best-intentioned employer. RJR Nabisco hasn't estimated the total bill, but company officials say they expect the matched-savings plan and loan subsidies to cost between $5 million and $6 million annually-assuming that up to 7,000 children of employees will take part in the savings plan and 4,000 will want loans. For a company like RJR Nabisco, with $13 billion in gross annual sales, that's a relatively small investment. But smaller firms, worried about paying for even basic health benefits, may have to wait until the economy gets better, Georgemiller says.

RJR Nabisco's tuition-assistance plan is one of the most dramatic examples of the increasing corporate involvement in education. According to a study last November by benefits consultants Towers Perrin and the National Association of Manufacturers, a fifth of 360 companies surveyed participate in an employer consortium interested in improving schools. Altruism isn't the sole motive; Georgemiller says that family-friendly benefits add up to greater worker loyalty and productivity-and that's all good for the bottom line.

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