The Total Economic Impact™ Of Degreed

Faster Time-To-Productivity For Newly Onboarded Employees

• Evidence and data.

  Due to Degreed, the onboarding and training of new employees became more efficient and effective at interviewees’ organizations. This reduced ramp time and led to new employees being fully productive sooner.

  • Prior to Degreed, onboarding depended on live instructors at synchronous training sessions, which were difficult to coordinate and delayed new employees’ ramp timelines. One-on-one training from managers lacked consistency and the quality of their guidance varied. When new employees engaged in independent learning, they used an LMS that seemed to emphasize checking boxes more than gaining knowledge. The CLO in professional services explained, “The person was just going through their modules — tons of page turning with a big electronic guidebook.”
  • Interviewees said that once Degreed was implemented, onboarding became consistently structured around the best content. It was available to new employees on their first day and laid out clearly in Degreed pathways.
  • Interviewees said this led to a more enjoyable and efficient onboarding process. Employees now had continuous guidance from definitive content during their crucial first weeks. They depended less on managers to convey information or share resources and no longer waited for training sessions with nothing else to do.
  • The CLO in manufacturing elaborated: “With Degreed, it’s much easier to have all the content for new employees organized and codified. For a given position, we have a single pathway with all the documents and content. Everyone starting that role has exactly the same information. Before Degreed it was too inconsistent and not always thorough enough. New employees now learn more, and they learn in a better way.”
  • The Degreed platform also facilitated live training being interwoven throughout the onboarding process, and provided a mirrored page for mentors and trainers from their perspective. The CLO in professional services said: “We have a video coach in each module, and they do phone calls and video calls. They teach live every week with cohorts.”
  • Interviewees explained that pathways in Degreed for new hires were not only a resource during the formal training period. They also served as an official library of content and best practices for the position. Employees referenced some of this well into the future when they were fully trained and understood their role in a more complete way.
  • Interviewees’ organizations used Degreed for large cohorts of new hires, but also for small ones where synchronous live training would have been particularly inefficient or altogether impossible. The improved ability to onboard only a few or even just one hire at a time provided organizations greater flexibility as to who and when they would hire.

• Modeling and assumptions.

  For the composite analysis, Forrester assumes that:

• • In Year 1, 200 employees are onboarded using Degreed. This increases in Year 2 to 250 and in Year 3 to 313.
  • Prior to Degreed, the time-to-productivity for these employees was three months.
  • Due to Degreed, the time-to-productivity for these employees decreases by 20%.
  • The average fully burdened salary for these employees is $9,000 per month.
• • For Your organization, employees onboarded using Degreed is x in Year 1, x in Year 2, and x in Year 3.
  • For Your organization, current time-to-productivity for employees is months.
  • Due to Degreed, the time-to-productivity for these employees decreases by 20%.
  • The average fully burdened salary for these employees is $9,000 per month.

• Risks.

  The benefit of faster time-to-productivity for newly onboarded employees will vary based on:

  • The onboarding process before Degreed.
  • The job roles of the new employees that an organization onboards with Degreed. Although Degreed was used to onboard across job types at interviewees’ organization, it was particularly beneficial for those roles with longer training periods that required more specialized skill development.
  • How many employees are onboarded each year and how many of them are onboarded with Degreed.
  • The quality of the onboarding programs built within Degreed and employee engagement with them.

• Results.

  To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 15%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of just over $2,862,000.

• Results.

  For your organization, the three-year, risk-adjusted total PV is x.

Better Retention In Key Roles

• Evidence and data.

  For employees at interviewees’ organizations, Degreed enabled continuous learning and skill-building as well as improved mentorship. Interviewees said this lowered turnover at their organizations. The turnover rate fell most dramatically for employees who recently entered a leadership role at their company.

  • At interviewees’ organizations prior to Degreed, long-term skill development was inconsistent and guidance from mentors was lacking once the formal training period ended.
  • To remedy this, interviewees’ organizations built structured mentorship and intentional skill-building paths within Degreed. These programs were particularly aimed at employees who recently entered a leadership role and regularly faced new and difficult decisions. With Degreed, they were better able to navigate these challenges and were more likely to remain in their role. Before the program, they struggled through these situations alone.
  • The CLO in professional services further explained the details of their program in Degreed that dramatically improved retention: “We built a program in Degreed for employees. It’s mentoring. It’s different resources for them to be successful in their new leadership role — how to handle hiring, developing, difficult conversations, setting expectations, goal setting, annual planning. Their boss has a development plan with them. It’s a very structured out process. Turnover used to approach 10%, and we have basically made all of that turnover go away for the most part. That’s a big deal.”
  • In addition to resources to reference independently, Degreed fostered employee engagement with managers and also offered a venue to connect with specialists who were not their supervisor. The CLO in professional services elaborated: “With this mentorship, new leaders can more easily find a way forward when difficult situations arise. The level of anxiety is a fraction of what it used to be because this program is in place now.”
  • Since these programs built in Degreed were successful in driving higher performance and retention, interviewees’ organizations introduced them to other employee segments with particularly difficult and highly skilled roles.
  • In addition to this use case, interviewees reported that Degreed improves retention across various employee groups at their organization by offering more learning opportunities. As the L&D lead in finance explained: “I think that we’re allowing associates the ability through Degreed to continuously grow their skills. Therefore, they have more opportunities than ever before within the walls of our organization and they’re not needing to look elsewhere.”
  • Interviewees’ organizations financially benefited from better retention by avoiding costs related to hiring. Interviewees estimated the costs associated with hiring for these positions to be at least 20% of the position’s salary but said that costs were often significantly higher.

• Modeling and assumptions.

  For the composite analysis, Forrester assumes that:

• • In Year 1, 150 employees are in the groups that experience lower turnover due to Degreed. In Year 2 and Year 3, 188 and 235 employees, respectively, are in the lower turnover groups targeted with Degreed.
  • Prior to Degreed, the turnover rate for these employees was 10%. After Degreed, it is 2%.
  • The average cost of hiring a new employee in these areas is $40,000, based on an assumed $200,000 fully burdened annual salary.
• • For x, the number of employees in key roles using Degreed for ongoing mentorship and skill-building is x in Year 1, x in Year 2, and x in Year 3.
  • For x, the current turnover rate is [10%]; and based on the associated model, after Degreed, it is x, an 80% reduction.
  • The average cost of hiring a new employee in these areas is $40,000, based on an assumed $200,000 fully burdened annual salary.

• Risks.

  The benefit of better retention in key roles will vary based on:

  • The turnover rate prior to Degreed.
  • The extent to which programs are built in Degreed that aim to lower turnover, and their quality.
  • The number of employees these are offered to, and the level of employee engagement with them.

• Results.

  To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 15%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV of just under $1,278,000.

• Results.

  For Your Organization, the three-year, risk-adjusted total PV is .

Improved Upskilling Of Current Employees

• Evidence and data.

  Degreed increased skill development at interviewees’ organizations and made the upskilling process more efficient, which saved time for trainees and trainers alike. Interviewees’ organizations implemented upskilling pathways related to a wide variety of business and technical skills to develop their workforce and achieve core business objectives. These pathways were rolled out quickly and in ways that were highly scalable, further improving the operational readiness and agility of decision-makers’ organizations.

  • Prior to Degreed, upskilling at interviewees’ organizations depended on extensive live events that were difficult to coordinate and LMSes with one-way learning that was often unengaging and narrow in scope. These processes were inefficient and usually could not be performed at scale.
  • Once Degreed was implemented, employees mastered new skills in less time. Interviewees explained that employees had a single gateway to upskilling that was easy to navigate. Material in Degreed was organized, with the rubric for training pathways clearly laid out. Courses were iterative and built upon each other so that employees could indeed master a new skill, as opposed to taking in disparate pieces that never come together in an impactful way.
  • The head of L&D in telecommunications added: “Everyone has different styles of learning. Degreed accommodates people who prefer going through stuff on their own and don’t like workshops and endless amounts of just one-way learning. Degreed also resonates with what they experience in their personal lives. It’s a consumer grade platform experience that they go through.”
  • Interviewees explained that the content first shown on an employee’s Degreed home page was tailored to be relevant to the individual, which made it easier for employees to access learning. This was enabled by AI in Degreed as well as L&D teams setting the type of content that was most important for particular job roles. The head of L&D in telecommunications said: “Right from the very first time that our employees log into Degreed, they’re able to see content that is actually relevant to them. We made sure that for every single employee we had skills content mapped to their roles.”
  • Trainers also benefited as Degreed allowed them to curate and share content more easily. Interviewees added that the AI in the Degreed platform also enabled trainers to find the most relevant and effective content more quickly. Degreed offered flexibilityfor experts, allowing them to do live video but also recorded video, which often saved time in the long run. Furthermore, experts working together on the Degreed platform saw enhanced collaboration and efficiency.
  • As the head of L&D in telecommunications explained, trainers also spent less time doing rework: “We don’t have to duplicate trainings like we used to because we use Degreed to preserve the work that was already done and connect our employees to it.”
  • Interviewees said they curated as many pathways as needed for their organization and introduced upskilling pathways in an intentional manner to meet business needs such as driving growth and maintaining competitive advantage. Interviewees’ organizations used Degreed to upskill employees and improve their organizations’ performance in a number of areas, including customer satisfaction and retention, data storage and analysis, product support, diversity and inclusion, leadership and management, and technology changes.
  • The head of L&D in consumer goods explained: “We’ve used Degreed to upskill about 2,000 of our employees to operate in a different way as we transformed our business. There was a huge increase in the number of employees who had access to that training program because it was available only in Degreed. We are changing the way we work, and I don’t know how we could have done it otherwise. Degreed improves our operational readiness.”
  • Interviewees also used Degreed to preserve and share internal best practices developed over time. In the past, such institutional knowledge and memory was often shared only informally and lost as time went on. Some interviewees proactively identified internal job function experts and captured their tacit knowledge in Degreed.
  • Interviewees also emphasized that with Degreed, upskilling could take place at scale. They gave several examples of content that saw success with some initial employee group later being leveraged by other segments of their organization.
  • Beyond scheduled and targeted learning spearheaded by leadership, Degreed was widely used for independent upskilling by employees and furthered intellectual curiosity at interviewees’ organizations. The L&D lead in finance said: “Degreed puts the learner in the driver’s seat. Our employees are able to look for content that is most relevant to them and fill those learning needs. They don’t have to wait for curriculum to be assigned or curated for them.”

• Modeling and assumptions.

  For the composite analysis, Forrester assumes that:

• • In Year 1, 2,000 current employees use Degreed to upskill. This increases in Year 2 to 2,500 and in Year 3 to 3,125.
  • Prior to Degreed, these employees dedicated an average of 40 hours a year to upskilling.
  • The time employees need to dedicate to be upskilled decreases by 35% because of Degreed.
  • The average fully burdened salary for these employees is $39 per hour.
  • Ten trainers upskill employees using Degreed. This is their full-time job.
  • The time trainers need to spend on upskilling employees decreases by 25% because of Degreed.
  • The average fully burdened salary for trainers is $110,000 per year.
  • The productivity recapture rate for employees and trainers engaged in upskilling is 50%. They convert 50% of hours saved into productive time.
• • For x, employees engaged in upskill training using Degreed is x in Year 1, x in Year 2, and x in Year 3.
  • For x, current hours spent upskilling each employee is x.
  • The time employees need to dedicate to be upskilled decreases by 35% because of Degreed.
  • The average fully burdened salary for these employees is $39 per hour.
  • For x, x trainers are used to upskill employees.
  • The time trainers need to spend on upskilling employees decreases by 25% because of Degreed.
  • The average fully burdened salary for trainers is $110,000 per year.
  • The productivity recapture rate for employees and trainers engaged in upskilling is 50%. They convert 50% of hours saved into productive time.

• Risks.

  The benefit of improved upskilling of current employees will vary based on:

  • The number of employees engaged in upskilling, as well as the number of trainers involved, prior to Degreed.
  • The upskilling process prior to Degreed.
  • The extent to which the upskilling process is moved within the Degreed platform.
  • The manner in which the upskilling process within Degreed is executed.
  • The amount of upskilling content introduced in Degreed that can be used in a scalable way.
  • The average fully burdened salaries of employees engaged in upskilling as well as trainers.

• Results.

  To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 15%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV of just under $1,737,000.

• Results.

  For Your Organization, the three-year, risk-adjusted total PV is x.

Learning Content Cost Savings

• Evidence and data.

  Interviewees explained that once Degreed was implemented, they determined that some of the third-party learning content they were paying for was unnecessary. Therefore, interviewees’ organizations cut costs by reducing the amount of this content thatthey were subscribing to each year.

  • Prior to Degreed, interviewees had difficulty understanding the complete learning content universe across their organization and lacked insight in knowing the extent to which employees used and valued particular content.
  • The head of L&D in telecommunications said, “We didn’t have one place to go to where we could actually access everything that the L&D ecosystem offered.”
  • Degreed improved how visible and organized the learning content was at interviewees’ organizations, and interviewees decided to stop paying for some premium content that was not getting much use. In other cases, Degreed enabled interviewees to identify and share at scale new, high-quality free content to replace some premium content they were previously using.
  • The head of L&D in telecommunications also added: “Degreed includes bite-sized content across a lot of premium platforms. There was a huge savings in the sense that we no longer pay for some of that content.”

• Modeling and assumptions.

  For the composite analysis, Forrester assumes that $150,000 is saved each year because third-party content is no longer needed.

• Modeling and assumptions.

  For Your Organization, the estimated third-party content costs to save using Degreed is x.

• Risks.

  The benefits of learning content cost savings will vary based on:

  • The amount of existing third-party content and the costs associated with it.
  • The visibility into that content and its use prior to Degreed.
  • The processes put in place once Degreed is implemented to identify and discontinue payment for unneeded content.

• Results.

  To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 15%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV of just over $317,000.

• Results.

  For Your Organization, the three-year, risk-adjusted total PV is x.

Unquantified Benefits

Additional benefits that customers experienced but were not able to quantify include:

• Social and team learning to drive culture.

  Interviewees said that Degreed led to higher levels of engagement with learning content among all types of employee segments, and supported a culture of learning at their organizations. The CLO in professional services explained how Degreed facilitated social learning: “Degreed really changed the game because they have this almost social media vibe going on with learning. You can follow people and you can group up with colleagues. This impacts what you’re seeing from a learning and development perspective in your feed.”

  The head of L&D in consumer goods also explained that Degreed drove skills-focused conversations among employee teams: “Our people are using Degreed as a springboard for team learning [with] the book club type approach — discussing and sharing contents around topics of shared interest.”

• Better communication with employees.

  Interviewees’ organizations used Degreed for companywide messaging, laid out in short pathways that they described as engaging and simple to access. Some examples interviewees gave were related to remote work, technology, diversity and inclusion, collaboration, and active listening. The L&D teams put together such pathways in about a day.

  The head of L&D in consumer goods said: “It’s easier to curate and share messaging with the business using Degreed. For example, we just had a campaign around well-being. We simply pulled together a short pathway and put it out almost like a business newsletter. We had a massive rate of consumption straightaway. Previously, we found it really hard to do that kind of piece.”

• Democratization of learning across the organization.

  Interviewees explained that through Degreed, learning and upskilling became available to employees in new regions and languages, as well as for frontline workers who previously saw only limited training opportunities.

  The head of L&D in consumer goods shared: “With Degreed, we have learners in our offices in Spain, Africa, and Poland that we didn’t have before. Also, learning development for frontline workers in all regions has definitely seen an increase. Previously L&D was mostly for leadership and mid-level managers. We’ve very much seen a democratization of learning.”

• Enabled remote work.

  Interviewees said that Degreed was one of a small number of core technologies that allowed their organization to successfully transition to remote work. Degreed enabled learning anytime and anywhere, including on mobile devices. The CLO in manufacturing said: “Degreed allows us stay connected with our employees during remote work. It allows our employees to stay connected with their colleagues, their supervisors, their tasks, and their learning.”

Flexibility

The value of flexibility is unique to each customer. There are multiple scenarios in which a customer might implement Degreed and later realize additional uses and business opportunities, including:

• Introducing the platform to additional employee segments.

  After seeing success with an initial subset of employees, Degreed use cases were often expanded to additional employees at interviewees’ organizations. On top of this, interviewees said that they planned for even more employees to use Degreed in the same ways in the near future. For example, the CLO in professional services stated, “The leadership program we built in Degreed [for select employees] is spoken of very highly to the point that our sales side of the business wants the same program next year for all of their directors.”

• Ready to upskill as business and technology environments evolve.

  All interviewees emphasized that their organizations needed to stay ahead when it comes to employee learning and upskilling in order to remain competitive going forward. Interviewees said that to do so, Degreed would be used in the future to develop their employees’ business and technology skills in ways that are impossible to predict today.

Flexibility would also be quantified when evaluated as part of a specific project (described in more detail in Appendix A).