Supporting Employees Through Their Studies

In last week’s article, we explored the advantages for both employees and employers of supporting employees in achieving exam success and obtaining qualifications. In this article, we look at how employers can support their employees through the process.
This article is correct as at 20 May 2025.
We understand that it can be a concern to invest time and money in an employee, only for them to leave the business afterwards. In fact, this, combined with manager’s not having enough time to train employees, are the top two reasons why businesses are reluctant to invest in their employees. There are some things you can do to protect your business against the cost of paying for qualifications, such as adding into the employee’s contract a clause that states they must pay back the cost if they then leave the business after a set period. Or if you take someone on who needs to complete their exams but hasn’t yet, you could agree to increase their salary by a pre-agreed amount after they pass each required exam to help motivate them but manage business costs until they are qualified.
In terms of time spent, this is more challenging to address. It is true that the employee will need to commit a large amount of time to their study to increase their chance of passing their exams. But there are things you can do and resources you can use to help with this.
Employers can support employees during exam periods in several effective ways:
Setting realistic timescales
Have realistic expectations of timescales and how many hours of study are required for each exam, and make sure your employees understand this. For example, for the CII R01 exam, the recommended number of study hours is 60, but someone new to the industry may need many more hours. When building a study plan, your employee should make sure they build in at least this may hours to set them up for the best chance of success.
If you will allow your candidate some time to dedicate to study during work hours, consider the environment they’ll need and how best to make that work. If there isn’t a quiet space or private meeting room available, consider allowing them to leave the office a little earlier, or start a little late so they can study at home instead.
Offer paid or unpaid leave specifically for studying, helping to reduce stress during exam periods. Many companies offer one day to be used as study leave, which can be split as a half day for revision and a half day for the exam sitting.
If possible, temporarily reducing workloads or redistributing some tasks to allow more time for studying can be very helpful for candidates. Though, this depends on their workload and the business’s expectations of their performance.
Exam Resources
Provide access to study materials, online courses, or training programs relevant to the exams. Before spending money on this, find out what works best for the candidate’s specific learning style and preferred format for learning. Discounts are often available if you require multiple resources.
Buddying Up
Exams can be stressful and overwhelming, especially if there’s a promotion contingent on passing. If there are multiple employees sitting exams, it might be a good idea to ‘buddy them up’ to help support and encourage each other. It can also be good to make sure that candidates know where to go for help if they need any.
Celebrating Achievements
Finally, another way to help motivate employees and foster a positive culture in the organisation is to be sure to promote and celebrate the candidate’s achievements. Once they pass an exam, congratulate them and celebrate this across the business. This will encourage them further and likely inspire more employees to seek out professional development.
By implementing these strategies, employers can create a supportive environment that helps employees succeed academically while balancing work responsibilities.