
Chegg: Taking On Employees’ Education Debt
11/07/22 • 25 min
Chegg is a connected platform enabling students to learn more in less time—and at reduced costs. The company offers discounted textbooks, online tutoring, and other student services, while providing diverse employee upskilling and development opportunities. Debra Thompson is Chegg’s Chief People Officer, infusing the brand’s culture of innovation, transparency, wellness, and work/life balance throughout the company. Previously, she served as Director of Compensation, Benefits, and HR Operations at Amyris and held directorial and managerial roles at RMS, CNET Networks, and Lucent Technologies. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and personnel administration/industrial relations from California State University, East Bay.
Some Questions Asked:
- What is Chegg’s approach to the upskilling, learning, and development of internal teams? 5:17
- What is the culture like at Chegg, and how do you maintain it? 11:53
- Can you tell us about Chegg’s partnership with the Tides Foundation? 21:54
In This Episode, You Will Learn:
- How Chegg offers learning opportunities for all employees, such as its Level Up initiative that includes seven different flagship management trainings, like giving and receiving feedback and behavioral interviewing, as well as its EDU for You program that gives staff money to pursue education in their personal fields of interest.
- That the culture at Chegg is built on openness, assumptions of positive intent from everyone, and optimal work/life balance—and that the company holds an annual culture, belonging, and diversity summit.
- How the brand’s philanthropic arm, Chegg.org, partners with groups to combat hunger, promote good health and well-being, deliver access to quality education and decent work opportunities, and reduce inequalities throughout the world.
Links:
- Debra Thompson - LinkedIn
- Michelle Labbe - LinkedIn
- Toptal - LinkedIn
- The Talent Economy podcast
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chegg is a connected platform enabling students to learn more in less time—and at reduced costs. The company offers discounted textbooks, online tutoring, and other student services, while providing diverse employee upskilling and development opportunities. Debra Thompson is Chegg’s Chief People Officer, infusing the brand’s culture of innovation, transparency, wellness, and work/life balance throughout the company. Previously, she served as Director of Compensation, Benefits, and HR Operations at Amyris and held directorial and managerial roles at RMS, CNET Networks, and Lucent Technologies. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and personnel administration/industrial relations from California State University, East Bay.
Some Questions Asked:
- What is Chegg’s approach to the upskilling, learning, and development of internal teams? 5:17
- What is the culture like at Chegg, and how do you maintain it? 11:53
- Can you tell us about Chegg’s partnership with the Tides Foundation? 21:54
In This Episode, You Will Learn:
- How Chegg offers learning opportunities for all employees, such as its Level Up initiative that includes seven different flagship management trainings, like giving and receiving feedback and behavioral interviewing, as well as its EDU for You program that gives staff money to pursue education in their personal fields of interest.
- That the culture at Chegg is built on openness, assumptions of positive intent from everyone, and optimal work/life balance—and that the company holds an annual culture, belonging, and diversity summit.
- How the brand’s philanthropic arm, Chegg.org, partners with groups to combat hunger, promote good health and well-being, deliver access to quality education and decent work opportunities, and reduce inequalities throughout the world.
Links:
- Debra Thompson - LinkedIn
- Michelle Labbe - LinkedIn
- Toptal - LinkedIn
- The Talent Economy podcast
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Previous Episode

Yelp: Why Remote First Works
Users depend on Yelp for great customer reviews but how do its remote team members depend on one another? CPO Carmen Amara (née Orr) talks about the company’s recent transition to remote work, how the company invests in employee well-being, and what a thriving culture looks like. Carmen Amara joined Yelp with 20 years of HR experience. Her main focus has been on transitioning the company into a remote environment.
Some Questions Asked:
- What attracted Amara to Yelp? 4:17
- How does Amara guide her team to support Yelp’s employees? 12:52
- How does Amara manage her self-care and model that standard for her employees? 21:24
In This Episode, You Will Learn:
- About the company’s plans to invest in their employee experience.
- How Amara maintains a thriving, remote work culture.
- What Yelp does to manage authenticity on its platform.
Links:
- Carmen Amara - LinkedIn
- Yelp - LinkedIn
- Michelle Labbe - LinkedIn
- Toptal - LinkedIn
- The Talent Economy podcast
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Next Episode

Suzy: Challenging HR Directly
Suzy is a leading global consumer insights platform that integrates quantitative and qualitative research with high-quality audience insights into a single connected research cloud. In this episode of The Talent Economy podcast, Anthony Onesto, Suzy’s Chief People Officer, speaks with Toptal’s Chief People Officer, Michelle Labbe.
Some Questions Asked:
- How do you incorporate the book Radical Candor into Suzy’s cultural philosophy? 6:42
- What is the importance in challenging directly and allowing for contrarian ideas? 10:21
- How does Suzy support employees who have a side hustle? 15:45
In This Episode, You Will Learn:
- How Onesto decided to implement Radical Candor into Suzy’s culture.
- How Onesto came up with the idea for his comic series, “Ella the Engineer.”
- How Suzy is using data and analytics in the benefits space.
Links:
- Anthony Onesto - LinkedIn
- Michelle Labbe - LinkedIn
- Toptal - LinkedIn
- The Talent Economy podcast
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
If you like this episode you’ll love
Episode Comments
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/the-talent-economy-podcast-320401/chegg-taking-on-employees-education-debt-46897300"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to chegg: taking on employees’ education debt on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy