How Athena Transformed Employee Retention with an In-House MBA

Tech companies burn through talent. Smart, ambitious people join, learn quickly, and move on. It’s the norm, especially in outsourcing, where six-month job hopping isn’t uncommon. Athena saw this firsthand. To grow, they needed a way to keep their best people longer.
The answer? Give them something they’d stay for. Not just a raise or a better title, but something that actually made them better: an accredited MBA. Instead of losing employees to career moves, Athena made career growth part of the company itself.

Retention in a Fast-Turnover Industry

Athena is in a hyper-competitive space: global tech and services. Hiring great people wasn’t the issue; keeping them was. Without a structured path to develop their skills, employees left for the next opportunity. Athena needed a long-term play, one that made staying more valuable than leaving.

Retention, Revenue, and Reputation

The impact was immediate:

• Retention shot up. Employees who might have left in six months now had a clear reason to stay for three years or more.
• Revenue followed. More skilled employees meant better execution, new product offerings, and stronger market positioning.

Athena became an employer of choice. The program gave them a unique advantage in hiring, attracting ambitious people who valued both work experience and education.

An In-House, Accredited MBA

Most companies don’t think of themselves as educators, but Athena saw an opportunity. They partnered with Woolf to build a real, recognized MBA program: Metis College. Employees could now work at Athena while earning a degree that mattered. This wasn’t a corporate training program with a fancy name. It was an actual MBA, structured to fit alongside work, taking three to four years to complete. More importantly, it aligned with Athena’s business goals. Employees weren’t just learning abstract theory, they were developing skills directly tied to their roles.