Spotlight: Annual Lifestyle Benefits Benchmark Report

According to the ADP Research Institute, only 47% of employees think their companies invest in the skills they need to advance. Companies that are offering one-off professional development programs may not be offering enough variety to truly help their employees grow.

During our analysis to create our annual Lifestyle Benefits Benchmark Report, we dialed in on professional development to understand what’s truly working when it comes to how employees are using their professional development benefits.

To support this growing interest, we recently introduced Professional Development Pro™ to streamline approvals and workflows, and improve overall utilization rates. With nearly one in five Compt customers (18%) offering professional development stipends, the need for a tailored solution to support diverse programs is growing.

We broke down claims from more than 2,500 professional development vendors to understand more about the categories that employees prioritize, and the need for choice is apparent.

What we found? One-size-fits-all training doesn’t work anymore. Employees expect learning tailored to their skills, career goals, and schedules. Flexibility helps learning fit into their busy lives without feeling forced. 

And L&D specialists agree. In a recent podcast with our team, L&D Strategist Molly Dennen said,

Learning doesn’t happen in a vacuum… You don’t have one learning experience that lives in isolation from all of the others that came before or after it.

We’re seeing more companies roll out micro-courses and training that employees can take on their own schedule, with topics ranging from career coaching to AI tools. The wide variety of learning paths show that there isn’t just one way to upskill or reskill tomorrow’s leaders.

Interestingly enough, courses and certifications took the lead at nearly 36% (and helps us understand why student loan repayment support is becoming more critical). And a quarter of reimbursements went to books, which included purchases on audio, hardcovers, summaries, etc.

With AI becoming more prevalent in the workplace, it’s not surprising that productivity and tools came in third.

We expect this number to grow with the popularity of AI-related tools to improve productivity and the ever-present mantra of ‘do more, with less.’ We saw this mirrored in our data of 2025 professional development trends, with AI being mentioned hundreds of times in claim details for tools like ChatGPT pro subscriptions, Claude, or books related to AI topics.

Best practices from Compt on professional development funding and frequency

When it comes to budget, employers are cautiously investing in professional development. While employers may not be able to pay the maximum for student tuition reimbursement (which in 2025, is $5,250 per employee, as determined by the IRS), they are still offering stipends to support professional development needs.

While we see many of our customers opting for quarterly programs for higher utilization rates, Professional Development had zero programs in this timeframe. Instead, the focus was on annual (60%), monthly (10%) and semi-annual or spot programs (30%).

3 tips for building a professional development account (that employees will actually use)

• Make it annual. Offering an annual stipend for professional development means employees can access it when they need it most, perfect for an annual subscription or one-off professional development purchases. Through our analysis, we saw that annual also had the highest utilization rate at 41% versus monthly or semi-annual stipends.
• Start small versus nothing at all. If you can’t support reimbursing tuition, ask yourself: could you offer a professional development stipend of $100 per employee? This could easily go toward books or productivity tools.
• Offer choice. As you can see, choice matters! Consider that your employees likely have different styles of learning, and give them an option to tailor their professional development needs.

Examples from Compt clients

When employees have the freedom to choose their professional development path, they invest in meaningful opportunities that align with their career goals.

We analyzed thousands of claims to see how employees are spending their professional development budgets. While they were all worth the investment, here are some of our favorite ones:

• “​​Year subscription to Code Academy to develop coding skills as they apply to data science.”
• A book, titled: “WorldatWork Total Rewards Handbook” 
• A book, titled: “Work Like a Boss: A Kick-in-the-Pants Guide to Finding (and Using) Your Power at Work [Kindle Edition]” 
• “Kindle Unlimited to access books about SQL”
• “‘Thinking in Systems’ book on management and organizational principles/practices”
• “2 online courses in UC Berekley Extension Program”
• “AI-powered writing assistant”
• “Career coaching”
• “CFA Exam prep”
• “Six Sigma Certification Program”

A focus on student loan repayment

Outside of professional certifications, books, and courses, we saw a growing number of student loan repayment options. This contributed to the 76% YoY increase in spending share across Compt customers, representing 12% of all customer spend. It’s proof that employers are increasingly addressing student debt, recognizing its impact on employees’ financial health and overall well-being.

Today’s world of professional development is radically different, with many options of how to learn, where to learn, and what to learn shifting every day. And we think that’s exciting, as employees can dial into what they truly need, rather than being boxed into learning paths that don’t make sense for them. As the professional development landscape continues to evolve with new 2025 professional development trends, we’ll be right there with it.

Ready to offer professional development choice to your people?

Professional Development Pro by Compt streamlines requests, approvals, and budget tracking, eliminating complex workflows and empowering employees to grow and develop. With our newest product, you’ll join others that are reducing bottlenecks to get their people the support and development needed to get ahead in today’s workforce. Request a demo today.

Planning for 2026? Get the most updated info on stipends for professional development in the latest benchmark report: