First-of-its-kind direct pay model bills employers directly for employee learning courses, eliminating out-of-pocket expenses for employees
Infosec Institute (“Infosec”), a leading cybersecurity education provider and part of Cengage Group, announced an expanded partnership with EdAssist by Bright Horizons, a leading provider of workplace education benefits, that will provide Infosec training courses to employees through EdAssist’s direct bill model where employers pay all costs upfront.
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In addition to eliminating upfront costs that were previously paid by employees (and later reimbursed by employers), this partnership will also expand EdAssist offerings to include Infosec boot camps, which are designed to build and validate in-demand cyber skills like threat hunting, ethical hacking and red teaming.
“EdAssist has been a valued partner to Cengage Work for years, and this expanded partnership with Infosec is an extension and deepening of that relationship,” said Bret Fund, SVP and General Manager of Infosec. “At a time when cybersecurity skills are in such high demand, we want to remove barriers preventing workers from continuing to grow their skill set, improving their performance and supporting their career mobility. Removing the cost barrier to training – where employees previously paid out-of-pocket for these courses and waited for their employer to reimburse their expense – is just one way we can improve access to learning and continuously develop our workforce. We know this change matters to employees who can’t afford to pay for learning upfront and wait on a reimbursement check from their employer, and we hope this approach positively disrupts the entire model for employer-sponsored training.”
While the direct bill model eliminates cost barriers for employees, it also provides significant benefits to participating employers by improving enrollment efficiency and reducing the risk of fraud since invoicing and payments stay directly between EdAssist and the providers. Additionally, by removing employees from the payment process, this model is linked to increased participation, typically at least 2-3% over reimbursement programs.
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“At EdAssist, we aim to provide the best workforce education solutions to employers and we are proud to enhance our offerings through this expanded partnership with Infosec,” said Diane Bartoli, Senior Vice President of EdAssist by Bright Horizons. “Not only does this improve the employee-sponsored training model and support greater employee participation, but it also gives learners access to Infosec boot camps, which are instrumental in developing the cybersecurity workforce.”
Infosec boot camps are engineered to match the way today’s cybersecurity professionals prefer to learn. This entails highly condensed live training from an experienced cybersecurity practitioner, unlimited access to hundreds of additional on-demand courses for an extended period, and hands-on labs and course materials to help advance skills and knowledge before, during and after the boot camp.
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