Q. I run a business and one of my employees has asked me if the business would fund her course fees to obtain a qualification. The qualification would be useful to her in her work so I am happy for her to do it but given that the fees run to several thousand pounds, I am not keen to pay those only to perhaps have her leave the business and get a job elsewhere with the qualification I paid for. Is there anything I can do?

A. It’s always good to see an employer who appreciates that helping their employees obtain additional qualifications can not only mean that the employee will hopefully be better at their job but is also a good way of increasing staff satisfaction and hopefully improving employee retention and cutting down on recruitment costs!

Unfortunately, there is always that worry that your employee may decide to put that qualification to use somewhere else rather than using it to benefit your business.

Ultimately, there is no real way to stop this happening. You could try to impose conditions preventing your employee from joining a competitor for a certain period after leaving but these are notoriously tricky to enforce. There is another way which is not to try and prevent the employee from leaving but instead to make the funding conditional on the employee staying in your employment for a certain period.

You need to be careful that the amount repayable is reasonable. It is usual for the amount to taper off the longer the employee stays, for example 100% to be repaid if she leaves during the course or within 6 months of it ending, 75% if she leaves after more than 6 months but less than one year and so on.

You will need to have a formal agreement signed by the employee and on behalf of the business. The document is fairly straightforward but it is still worth getting your solicitor to draft it as there are pitfalls if not done properly.