A new initiative from Uber shows one way firms are preparing for the future of work

Last Friday’s jobs report showed that employers are scrambling to find qualified workers, with a record 7.14 million open jobs. While it is difficult to predict the future of work, one thing is certain: New jobs, as well as existing ones, will increasingly require higher skills.

That is one reason why employers are increasingly offering “education as a benefit” programs to their employees. Fiat Chrysler and Verizon Wireless were one of the first to offer such a program with Strayer University’s Degrees@Work. Walmart, Taco Bell, Discover, and Chipotle partnered with Guild Education. And Amazon Career Choice is supporting 10,000 employees with access to a certificate or diploma. These programs were not just about training for jobs within these companies, but rather helped create upward mobility pathways for workers that might be outside of the company. 

These programs typically benefit full-time workers, leaving a group of part-time and contingent workers more vulnerable in the challenge to acquire the skills needed for better paying jobs. Workers who participate in the “gig economy” do not neatly fit into traditional categories of full-time or part-time workers. Some workers use side gigs to supplement their income and enjoy the flexibility of working when it is most convenient for them. Others are using this type of work as their primary source of income, but lack the employer-provided benefits many full-time employees enjoy.

That is what makes last week’s announcement by Uber and Arizona State University so significant. The new partnership gives their drivers flexible education options with 100 percent tuition coverage. Under the pilot, drivers who meet certain criteria in Denver, New Orleans, Seattle, Orlando, Tampa, and New Jersey will have several options available to them. They can enroll in any one of the 80 traditional online ASU undergraduate degrees. For those who may not initially qualify for an ASU program, they can enroll in the Global Freshman Academy which allows drivers to gain admission into ASU by successfully completing a series of online courses that count toward their degree. 

Uber’s team found that more than a third of their drivers spoke English as a second language, and that more than half said they planned to start their own business in the next five years. Based on this feedback, the partnership with ASU will also offers drivers the chance to take non-degree classes in an English language program or entrepreneurship. 

In some ways what stands out the most isn’t the benefit itself, but who can participate. Drivers can choose to transfer the free tuition to a spouse, domestic partner, child, sibling, parent, or dependent. “Drivers told us that supporting their families was one of the main reasons they get on the road every day,” said Uber’s product development lead Daniel Danker in an interview with CityLab.

The partnership arrives at a time of heightened anxiety about the fraying of the traditional social contract between employers and employees. The changing nature of work and new platform enabled contingent income opportunities is forcing everyone to rethink the way in which benefits and services are offered to employees. Uber deserves credit for offering this program and it should help inspire other employers to explore similar programs.

This is also a useful wakeup call for policymakers to consider additional policy options for portable benefits that provide the flexibility today’s workers need. For decades, politicians on both sides of the aisle have talked about flexible workforce accounts, from then Representative Rahm Emanuel to ALEC to Glenn Hubbard’s idea for Personal Reemployment Accounts. The Aspen Institute’s Future of Work initiative has a fresh take on a modernized LifeLong Learning Accounts that builds off tax advantaged savings vehicles already in place, such as 529 accounts. These are bipartisan ideas that the new Congress, and newly elected Governors, should explore in partnership with businesses. 

The future of work is all about the future of skills. Uber’s approach should hopefully encourage other platform companies to consider similar programs for their workers and help spur additional policy actions that can help support worker training.