Showing Up Matters. No Matter What.

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” — Peter Drucker

Here is what I know after 25+ years in this industry: the organizations that win are not the ones that had it the easier way. They are the ones who showed up when it mattered most.

2025 tested all of us. It tested Edcor. It tested me as a leader. It tested our Clients who were navigating talent shortages, budget pressures, and workforce expectations that keep rising. But here is what I also know: we showed up. Every single time. And that is exactly what we are going to keep doing in 2026 and beyond.

This is not just a New Year’s message. It is a promise.

The thing about standards is that you either keep them or you do not. And at Edcor, we did. Not because it was easy. Not because circumstances were favorable. But because our commitment to supporting our Clients has not wavered, and it never will.

That is what showing up really means.

Let me share something that would make every CHRO, every Total Rewards leader, and every CFO sit up and pay attention.

• In the first quarter of 2025, 59% of Chief Human Resources Officers identified employee development as their most challenging area. That number was up by 16% from 2024, according to Gallup’s latest workforce research. This simply means that the gap between what your workforce can do and what your business needs them to do is widening, and fast.
• LinkedIn’s 2025 Workplace Learning Report found that organizations with strong career development programs are 42% more likely to be frontrunners in generative AI adoption compared to those without. They also see higher rates of internal promotions, better employee engagement with learning, and stronger leadership pipelines. The connection is not subtle. Companies that invest in people outperform companies that do not. Period.
• Gallup’s data shows that doubling the number of employees who feel they have strong opportunities to learn and grow could lead to an 18% increase in profitability and a 14% improvement in productivity. Let that sink in. Not a 2% bump. An 18% increase in profitability is tied directly to development investments.

​Yet according to SHRM’s 2025 Employee Benefits Survey, only 47% of employers now offer leadership development programs – up just 3 points from 2024.  

Seemed like we were pulling back exactly when we should be doubling down.

Education benefits are not one-size-fits-all. Period.

I have said this before, and I will keep saying it until it becomes standard practice in every boardroom. Education benefits are not one-size-fits-all. Period.

What works for a corporate workforce does not work for frontline employees. What works for early career talent does not work for mid-career professionals trying to pivot. What works for a company focused on technical upskilling does not work for one building leadership strength.

To commemorate the facts, PwC’s 2025 Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey made it painfully clear: workers are frustrated at receiving too little upskilling and too few chances to demonstrate the skills they already have. Leaders need to spell out which skills matter most for the future, connect them to business strategy, and create visible, equitable upskilling pathways. But providing those pathways is not enough without opportunities to test and apply new capabilities on the job.

That is why Edcor does not just administer education benefits. We solve for outcomes. We work with Clients to design eligibility that reaches the right people, build school networks that offer the right programs, and integrate advising that helps employees stay enrolled and complete. Because access without completion is a wasted investment.

What showing up looked like in 2025

Let me tell you what our teams did this year when everything felt hard.

Our service teams responded faster, even when case volumes were higher than ever. Our technology teams kept building better tools to improve the employee experience, even when budgets were tight. Our Client success teams kept problem-solving through complex policy changes, legislative updates like the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that expanded Section 127, and school partnership shifts that required real-time adjustments.

We did not just maintain service levels. We improved them. Because service is not a business essential at Edcor. It is the heartbeat of our business.

My recommendations for you

If you are an HR leader or a Total Rewards professional reading this, stop treating education benefits like a line item. Start treating them like the strategic workforce lever that they are.

First, identify your top workforce outcome for 2026.

• Is it retention in hard-to-fill roles?
• Internal promotion readiness?
• Faster skill development to support transformation initiatives? Leadership pipeline depth?

Once you know the outcome, align your education benefits to it. Too many programs exist in isolation from business strategy, and that’s a recipe for disaster.

Second, audit who is using your benefits and who is not. If participation is concentrated in one employee segment, you have a problem. It could be communication. It could be access barriers. It could be a mismatch between what you offer and what employees need. Fix it.

Third, measure what matters.

• Track completion rates, not just utilization.
• Track retention among participants versus non-participants.
• Track internal promotions.
• Track satisfaction.

These are the real metrics that turn education benefits from sunk cost into ROI.

Fourth, demand more from your vendor. If your current partner feels like a cookie-cutter solution that disappears when things get complicated, you are not being served.

You deserve better. Your employees deserve better.

What’s next

To our Clients, thank you. Thank you for trusting Edcor with programs that matter deeply to your business and to your people. Thank you for the feedback that makes us sharper, the partnership that pushes us forward, and the patience when we work through tough situations together.

As we step into 2026, Edcor will continue to show up with best-in-class education benefits administration, cutting-edge technology, problem-solving through education, and a service model built on accountability. Not because it is easy. But because it is what you deserve.

The future belongs to organizations that develop people intentionally and to leaders who turn learning into momentum.

Think Edcor. Think Possible and Let’s Future Together!