High 25 agency Withum awarded $95,000 in grant funding via the Thomas R. Suarez Pupil Mortgage Grant program to assist its staff repay their scholar loans.
In 2021, Withum instituted the Thomas R. Suarez Pupil Mortgage Grant in honor of a previous partner-in-charge on the Princeton workplace. Suarez had been working on the agency since he graduated from faculty in 1976 and unexpectedly handed away in 2020, shortly earlier than his retirement.
In keeping with Theresa Richardson, Withum’s chief expertise officer, Suarez wished current graduates to navigate their first job with out the monetary burden of scholar loans and to realize their skilled targets in a welcoming atmosphere. Thus far, Withum has awarded almost $200,000 to Withum members via the initiative.
“The very last thing younger professionals want is to have extra stress about cash, and if we might help remove that, it really is a win-win for everybody,” mentioned Richardson. “We at all times say that life ought to come earlier than work, and we need to launch among the stress they’re feeling. After they first come to the agency, college students have already got a lot to study concerning the world and the business, and they need to have the chance to give attention to their households as properly.”
Round July, the corporate despatched an electronic mail to its 2,000 staff and supplied workforce members the chance to use for a renewable $5,000 grant to assist cut back their debt. HR administrator Julia Zottman, an in depth good friend of Suarez, receives the purposes and transfers them to the Withum committee. Candidates want to put in writing a short essay explaining how the grant would assist them financially, and all names stay hidden to ensure objectivity.
Withum constructing in Princeton, N.J.
Courtesy of WithumSmith+Brown
In keeping with a 2021 Schooling Information Initiative report, the typical scholar mortgage debt for accounting college students is round $23,000 for a bachelor’s diploma and $28,000 for a grasp’s. However in response to Sherry Goode, considered one of this yr’s recipients, the grant extends past monetary help. Presently working as a lead guide on digital and know-how transformation advisory companies at Withum’s Washington, D.C., workplace, Goode mentioned she sees the grant as an extension of Withum’s household tradition together with its core values, also known as The Withum Approach.
“Our Pupil Mortgage Grant program is a singular profit to Withum and definitely one inside the accounting occupation,” mentioned Invoice Hagaman, Withum’s managing companion and CEO, in a press release. “We acknowledge that our individuals work exhausting to get levels in accounting and advisory roles, which then require extra certifications and credentials, reminiscent of taking the CPA examination, changing into Microsoft Licensed Professionals or (ISC)², to additional their profession path.”
With a $10,000 grant, Grace Hounsou is without doubt one of the different 16 workforce members who benefited from the coed mortgage assist. She graduated from McDaniels School in Maryland with $60,000 in debt, however with the assistance of Withum, and if she additionally qualifies for President Joe Biden’s scholar mortgage forgiveness program, Hounsou will finish the yr debt-free. After paying $600 per 30 days for the previous 4 years and dedicating “each final cent” to her scholar loans, Hounsou is impatient to change her consideration to her mortgage and financial savings.
Grace Hounsou
Hounsou had her share of ache in her life: she misplaced her mom at a younger age, and together with her father presently incarcerated, she needed to make her personal method towards success. Hounsou explains she was fortunate to discover a well-paying job straight out of faculty as a tax accountant and profit from a supportive workforce at Withum, and he or she says she owes all of it to increased schooling. Subsequently, Hounsou desires to begin her debt-free life by organising a financial savings account for her future kids, in order that they’ll have the ability to go to school with out struggling as a lot as she did.
“With out this grant and the Biden forgiveness program, it will have taken me years to reimburse my money owed, and people are years that I get again,” mentioned Hounsou. “I felt that my first job wasn’t very team-oriented however, as quickly as I acquired right here, I felt very linked to my colleagues. Withum is absolutely making an attempt its finest to maintain us within the loop, with weekly workforce conferences and quarterly reunions with the complete agency to inform us how the corporate is doing. It feels superb to be heard, and to really feel like everybody belongs.”
It isn’t the primary time the nationwide accounting and advisory agency has supplied distinctive advantages to its employees. Withum provides a shadow inventory program for workforce members to share within the success of the agency and a tuition reimbursement bundle for anybody trying to return to highschool to broaden their experience and profession improvement. Practically 10 years in the past, the agency additionally created a company-sponsored Workforce Member Hardship Reduction Fund to help staff who skilled unexpected monetary hardships due to Hurricane Sandy.
In 2021, Withum introduced the business’s first Childcare Reimbursement Expense Program, which reimburses 25% of eligible annual childcare prices for workers. Richardson says this system was born out of the pandemic as a result of Withum’s management knew how tough it was for single dad and mom to search out a suitable work-life stability. To proceed with these efforts, the agency has embraced versatile work preparations and supplies extra health, wellness and psychological well being incentives for all workforce members.
“I’ve been right here for 25 years and Withum at all times put the individuals first, as a result of they honestly consider human capital is their primary asset,” mentioned Richardson. “Every time we do a survey, the No. 1 factor that comes again is our tradition, and our office ambiance can also be what we market to candidates. We’re very proud to worth exhausting work, compassion and household, and I believe that is the center of all the pieces we do.”