Not so long ago, employers competed for younger workers with unlimited snacks and foosball tables. But with total student debt now at more than a trillion dollars in the United States, a new trend may be starting to emerge: debt relief as a perk.
Consulting giant PwC announced Tuesday that it is offering $1,200 annually to employees at the two most junior levels to help pay down student debt. PwC hires 11,000 new employees a year from college campuses. A whopping 80 percent of the company’s staff are millennials – the demographic group that spans ages 22 to 35.
“We are taking some of that burden off of them in the initial phases of their career,” says Shannon Schuyler, principal, U.S. corporate responsibility leader and chief purpose officer at PwC. “And it does not come with golden handcuffs.
