Waste Management announces new employee benefits program, hiring events

Waste Management Inc., Houston, is holding career day events across North America  May 21-22 aimed at hiring essential frontline drivers and technician positions. The company is offering a range of new employee benefits from flexible work schedules, sign-on bonuses and a new education and upskilling benefit program, Your Tomorrow, developed in collaboration with Denver-based Guild Education. According to Waste Management, Your Tomorrow is a “first-of-its-kind program that provides WM employees, as well as their eligible dependents, the opportunity to choose from a full range of education options, including earning a college degree, at no cost to the employee.”

The WM career day events, designed to proactively address talent needs, offer candidates the opportunity to interview and potentially receive same-day offers to start their careers with the company. Interview spots can be reserved in advance online, though walk-ins will also be accepted.

WM Your Tomorrow offers nearly 36,000 full-time U.S. employees access to more than 170 fully funded programs, including undergraduate and graduate degrees, short-form technology and business certificate programs and high school completion. Later this year, the company plans to expand this offering to benefits-eligible dependents, including nearly 34,000 children and spouses, beginning with enrollment in 2022 educational programs. According to Waste Management, the company is one of the first employers to extend education and upskilling opportunities at this scale.

“At WM, we’re an innovative people-first organization that cares deeply about the careers, economic mobility and wellbeing of our team members,” says Tamla Oates-Forney, chief people officer, WM. “Your Tomorrow supports the reskilling and retention of existing talent, while also helping to attract new talent, to equip the business with a skilled workforce for the future and further position WM as an employer of choice. It will soon help our team members with the support needed to provide for their dependents’ education. Through our career day events, we hope to attract new team members that want to evolve their career and will take advantage of this new benefit program.”

“We’re excited to partner with WM to offer education and upskilling opportunities to their employees, including the frontline essential workers who help us maintain a sustainable future in our communities,” says Rachel Carlson, CEO and co-founder, Guild Education. “By being the first company to extend the upskilling offering to employees and their families in this way, WM and their leaders are game-changers. They’re setting the standard for how organizations can creatively invest not only in their employees but also those employees’ children and families, in a way that ties to their company strategy."