Continuing your training and education through WSET courses is surely a way to grow your career in the drinks business or make a career move toward it. Balancing work and study will be a major factor in your success, but the first question might be how you are going to fund your tuition fee. Many large employers in Thailand offer sponsorship as part of their benefits as they might be legally required to dedicate a budget for training their employees according to the Skill Development Promotion Act 2002; yet only a few employee take advantage of this. Many employees are unaware of this or just to shy to ask, or unequipped to build a compelling case.
The truth is, with the increasing professionalization of the drinks business in Thailand, unqualified salespeople, retailers, wine bar attendants and Michelin-starred restaurant's sommeliers will find it hard to cling onto their jobs as a new wave of young professionals arrive on the drinks scene with solid qualifications form the WSET, the WSG or other institutions.
Every year 1000s of businesses—of all shapes and sizes—turn to WSET courses and qualifications to ensure their employees are armed with the necessary product knowledge in wines, spirits, beer and sake to succeed. For employers, sponsoring the training of their best employees is an amazing retention tool, in an industry that is long been plagued with insanely high staff turnover. Here we share some of their stories to demonstrate how WSET provides tangible benefits and ROI.
In the last few years, I have witnessed WSET alumni gaining confidence at work, recognition from their peers and employers. Some have opened their own import and distribution businesses, opened wine bars, and even reached top ranks at the latest edition of Thailand Best Sommelier Competition.
If you’re considering taking one of our courses, here’s how to ask your employer to fund your WSET tuition fee:
3 Steps to Convince Your Employer to Pay for Your WSET Tuition fee
1. Understand your boss and the context
The job of your supervisor/ manager is to achieve organization's mission roles and goals through other people. He/ She does this by smartly allocating (limited) resources to maximize a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPI), including Revenue from Sales, Service Quality, and Cost Control. As a team member, if you are going to ask for funding for your WSET tuition fee, you better be ready to justify how these resources will help you (and him/ her) improve these KPI. If you work in a large company, your boss might have to compete with other departments for budget, so he/ she will need to build a strong case in favor of your sponsorship with HR and with his/ her boss. Since your boss is busy running your department, you need to prepare your pitch and his/her. From the Human Resource department side, you need to find out if there is an existing education/ training assistance program in the company, who has ever benefited from it, what is the application process, when are decisions taken and who has the final say. This will guide your next steps.
2. Prepare your Pitch
You can't just walk-up to your manager, ask for sponsorship and expect a 'Yes-sure-where-do I-sign?' response. You need to prepare your argument, anticipate objections, find the right time to approach him/ her and write your letter/email.
For the principle of due diligence your boss is likely to ask you a few questions about your chosen program. Make sure you familiarize yourself these and print out what you need.
Program details: You can check out the schedule here, and download the course specifications here: - WSET Level 1 Award in Wines - WSET Level 2 Award in Wines
Relevance: You will need to explain how the program is in alignment with your role and goals and how your taking this program will contribute to the organization by making you more comfortable to recommend, sell, up-sell beverages, organize tutored tasting for guests or co-workers... Be sure to give specific examples, so your boss visualizes this very clearly in his head. It's important he creates a mental image of your future contribution to the organization.
Commitment: Your boss might be worried that your studies might come in the way of work in some ways. You must state your commitment to the organization and reassure your boss that Wine & Spirit IQ will offer online alternatives or make-up class in case of absence. You need to convince your boss that you have the required grit to succeed both at work and in class. Remind him of your attachment to the organization and your desire to grow within it.
Cost: You need to state the tuition fee for your course and remind your employer that he can benefit from the 200 percent tax deduction for this. If he or she is not familiar with the process, be sure to send him/ her this link.
Reimbursement terms: Since all tuition fees are due before classes start, you might have to prepay for the course directly to Wine & Spirit IQ and receive reimbursement later. Sometimes, employers are willing and able to pay upfront. Make sure you fully understand the terms of reimbursement and be aware that your employer might ask you to sign an amendment to your employment contract to minimize the risks of your leaving the company prematurely after funding your training. The amendment will likely state that if you do leave the company after a set of months after the sponsorship, you might have to pay back some or all training expenses. It is only fair for employers to secure their Return on Investment (ROI). In terms of ROI, you can also plan a series of revenue-generating activities (wine dinners, tutored tastings...) that you will be able to run once you have completed your training: Showing proforma Profit & Loss Statements for each of these will help your boss visualize better the value of your training.
Benefits to the company: Once you have collected all information detailed in step one, you need to outline the benefits of the program and how it will help you and the department...
increase revenue by being able to speak about beverages more eloquently, making you more confident in up-selling, create revenue-generating wine events...
improve quality of service by giving customers more accurate and smarter buying advice, better food and wine recommendations...
save cost by minimizing errors and waste due to lack of beverage knowledge, storage and service inefficiencies...
You can prepare links or printouts of the case studies to illustrate how WSET courses have benefited other companies.
Finding the right timing for your request is important. Key dates for quarterly or yearly performance review, or budget development periods are obviously good opportunities to discuss sponsorship. But a good idea coming at the wrong time might just be rejected, so turn to your colleagues in HR and accounting to find out what is the best time to formulate your request.
The next step is to write up your email/ letter: Download the template below that takes all the points discussed above and personalize it as much as you can.
Download your Template Letter to ask your employer for sponsorship for your WSET course in 2025
3. Follow-up
Once you have sent out the email/ letter, you will need to follow up and prepare yourself for questions and the possibility that your employer will only sponsor part of your tuition fee. If it is refused, try to find out why and how you could re-submit later. Your employer might have a very good reason for not sponsoring you at this time. The key is to never give up... and if your current employer is standing in the way of your professional growth... maybe it's time to reassess your future in the organization. If you look for a new job, make sure you include the sponsorship of your WSET course in your negotiation.
Check out the updated schedule for WSET courses here. For a specific focus on France, Italy or Spain, check out the schedule for the WSG courses here.
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