Asking for Professional Development Reimbursement

This statistic, provided by LinkedIn’s 2022 Workplace Learning Report, delivers an encouraging message for employees seeking to pursue professional development opportunities. While gaining management support for your professional goals can sometimes be as simple as asking for it, employees armed with the answers to a few key questions will have an easier time. Before sitting down with your boss, take the following steps to make them as enthusiastic as you are about your learning.

Determine the return on investment

Certain characteristics make professional development opportunities appealing to management—namely, those that benefit the company. Here are some areas to highlight when advocating for the value of a course or program:

1. Goals. When researching programs, consider the alignment between your professional goals and the goals of your team or organization, paying close attention to aspects of any course or program that will support your employer’s initiatives while building your skillset. 
2. Duration and flexibility. Your employer may be concerned that your studies will interfere with your ability to do your job. Short and/or flexible professional development opportunities go a long way toward ameliorating this worry, so be sure to note these attributes.
3. Affordability. Outline costs and inquire after scholarship opportunities.

Ask your organization for support

Some employees need look no further than their organization’s learning and development team to secure educational support. Those who work for a place without one should start with the benefits office. To get the most out of speaking with human resources, here are some questions you can ask to learn more about how your company supports its employees in their professional goals:

• Does the company provide financial support for employees pursuing professional development opportunities? If yes, what information do I need to provide to receive that support? 
• Who needs to provide approval for my request? What information should I provide to receive approval? 
• Are there any discounts I should be aware of (i.e., nonprofit pricing, organization affiliation rates, group discounts)? 
• Will there be workload flexibility or time off provided if necessary? 

Submit your request

After finding the right program, it is time to approach your boss. You can use the following template for making the ask: 

Hi [Boss],

I’m writing to follow up on our conversations regarding areas of professional development for my role. Since our discussion on how I can strengthen [skill(s) specific to your role] and continue growing professionally at [name of company], I’ve been researching professional development programs aligned to these goals. I wanted to let you know I recently came across an intriguing program that will address my learning goals.

This program stood out to me because [explain why the program interests you and would address skills above]. I’m also excited about the opportunity to learn more about [reference program topic].

Does [company name] provide financial support for professional development opportunities like this? I’d love to discuss funding opportunities or reimbursement policies before I move forward. 

Here are some details for the program:

Start date: 

Registration deadline:

Duration: 

Cost: 

Discount: 

Link with more information: 

Please let me know if and when you will be available to discuss this. I appreciate your investment in my professional development and look forward to deepening my contribution to [company name]. 

Best regards,

[Your name]