Aetna said it will launch a matching payment program in January to help employees repay student loans.
Chairman and CEO Mark Bertolini said in an announcement that he expects Aetna’s new perk to pay off for the company, since employees who are less stressed financially are more likely to stay focused on the company’s mission.
Aetna said it will match U.S. employees’ student-loan payments up to $2,000 per year, with a lifetime maximum of up to $10,000.
All full- and part-time active Aetna employees of any age who have graduated in the past three years are eligible, but the match for part-time workers will be $1,000 a year with a lifetime maximum of $5,000.
Approximately 4,000 Aetna employees could qualify for the program, the company said.
Aetna is the latest company in a growing but modest number of firms that offer such a perquisite.
Hartford-based drug and alcohol testing provider Foley offers up to $1,000 per year to its employees for loan repayment, with no lifetime cap.
Approximately 4 percent of companies offer such programs, up from 3 percent in 2015, according to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management.
Aetna has made other recent changes seeking to retain talent. Last year, the insurer raised its minimum base wage to $16 an hour for approximately 5,700 employees and also created a program that helps lower out-of-pocket healthcare expenses for thousands of workers, Bertolini said.
