Kevin Hart’s restaurant chain becomes the latest employer to offer a student loan benefit

Perks for restaurant employees have evolved beyond some free fries.

Hart House, the Los Angeles-based vegan restaurant chain co-founded by comedian Kevin Hart, announced on March 6 a partnership with student loan benefits provider Savi to offer the company’s full- and part-time employees tools and coaching to help lower their educational debt.

Hart House employees can enroll in the benefit on their 60th day of employment, Andy Hooper, the company’s CEO, told HR Brew. Then, he said, they’ll be connected with a financial coach through Savi, who can help them enroll in a program—like the income-driven repayment plan SAVE—that will help them lower their monthly student loan payment. While Hart House is not contributing money directly to its employees’ debt, it is covering the cost of this financial coaching.

The decision to offer the benefit was made in anticipation of federal student loan relief ending in October, Hooper told HR Brew via email.

“Nearly 10% of America works in hospitality, and a meaningful percentage of them have some form of student debt, many without having completed their degrees,” Hooper said via email. “Hart House was seeking a way to make a meaningful impact on employees and inspire other restaurant companies to look for creative ways to address the upcoming financial burden.”

Zoom out. Student loan debt in the US sits at $1.7 trillion as of Q4 2023, according to the Federal Reserve, a far cry from the $480 billion owed in 2006 when the Fed first started calculating the figure.

Employers that offer student debt relief could be putting themselves ahead of the curve when it comes to employee retention, according to insurance brokerage and consulting firm Woodruff Sawyer. Some 86% of employees who responded to an August 2023 Woodruff Sawyer survey said they would commit to a job for at least five years if the organization offered a student debt relief program. Yet, just 8% of employers—including Chipotle, Google, and Hulu—offer a student loan benefit, according to SHRM.

“Having an employer-sponsored benefit that helps restructure and even forgive [student loan] payments is a huge selling point in recruiting new employees,” Hooper said via email. “Imagine a shift manager with a $350 per month payment successfully restructuring that to $175 per month. As an employer, you’re essentially giving your leader a $175 per month post-tax wage increase. It’s akin to giving a full-time employee a 10% to 15% increase in base pay for the employer cost of a few dollars per month.”

When 30% of adults report having incurred some amount of student loan debt, HR leaders could view student loan benefits as an opportunity to invest in their employees’ financial wellness, which, if left unattended, can result in lower productivity and higher turnover, according to Morgan Stanley.

“My philosophy is that I step back and think about my own experiences as a human being with significant financial stress. It has almost always impacted my ability to focus, my ability to stay on task, my ability to be the best version of myself,” Hooper said. “That’s how we should view financial wellness for the people that work for us. It’s in our best interest to remove the structural impediments that they have to being the best version of themselves.”