One of the best ways employers can differentiate themselves and boost employee recruitment and retention is by offering voluntary education benefits, such as a college savings plan or career counseling program.

Employers typically don’t want to compete for employees through salaries and health benefits, and 401(k) plans and voluntary dental plans are extremely common, said Jeff Stibel, CEO of Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. in Los Angeles.

Rather, it’s a college savings plan, such as what Dun & Bradstreet Credibility launched in late 2012, that has helped the company to have virtually no turnover at corporate headquarters and less recruiting costs, Mr. Stibel said.

Through a 529 college savings plan sponsored by Nevada and run by Putnam Investments, Dun & Bradstreet Credibility, which provides businesses with credit and credibility products and is not affiliated with Dun & Bradstreet Corp., offers its 700 employees the opportunity to save money to pay for college costs for anybody, whether they’re related to that person or not. Dun & Bradstreet Credibility matches employees’ annual contributions of up to $2,500 for salaried employees and $1,000 for hourly employees. The company also contributes an amount equal to its match to public schools in areas where employees work.

Operated by a state or educational institution, 529 plans are one common way individuals or families save for college. According to Saving for College L.L.C., while contributions to a 529 plan are not deductible on a federal tax return, investments grow tax-deferred and distributions to pay for the beneficiary’s college costs come out federally tax-free.

“Our intention was never to do a 529 plan,” Mr. Stibel said. “We used the 529 really as a vehicle for what we felt was a larger opportunity to help our employees, their children and then the surrounding communities’ children get into college.”

Offering a college savings plan as a voluntary benefit was preferable because “we’re big believers in earning what you get,’’ he said. “In the end, we said we’re willing to give this money away, but only if our employees see the value and the benefit. And the best way to do that is to say, ‘You put money in and we’ll match it.’”

Until another college savings plan option becomes available that runs more like a 401(k) plan, Dun & Bradstreet Credibility will keep offering the current model.

Meanwhile, most employers 10 years ago focused on what medical benefits they could offer employees, but “today it’s really about a holistic approach to the entire employee experience,’’ said Ron Agypt, Chicago-based chief sales officer of employee benefits at Hub International Ltd. “That includes education now.’’

Mr. Agypt said some of his clients have expressed interest in offering corporate 529 college savings plans, which employees can contribute money to through payroll deductions. However, experts say it’s not as common to see employers offer voluntary education benefits in the form of college savings plans as it is to see employers offer tuition reimbursement programs, which are considered voluntary benefits by some brokers, consultants and employers.

Hub, for example, doesn’t offer a college savings plan to employees, but it has offered tuition reimbursement programs for years to keep employees’ skills sharp and current, said Deb Deters, chief human resources officer at Hub.

Tuition reimbursement is by far the most popular education benefit – more so than college savings plans and education counseling – because it’s mutually beneficial for employers and workers, said Beth Grellner, health and group benefits leader at Towers Watson & Co. in St. Louis.

For companies, the goal of providing an education benefit might be to help workers get the additional training they need, while accounting firms “or even a Towers Watson consulting firm” might be “looking to beef up the number of MBAs you have as part of your qualifications to the marketplace,” Ms. Grellner said.

Occasionally, employers will offer a few different education benefits to meet the needs of all their workers, said Carol Sladek, a partner and work-life consulting leader at Aon Hewitt in Chicago. That might include a tuition reimbursement to help young workers, a college savings plan to help working parents and a career counseling program.

For example, United Parcel Service Inc. invested more than $22 million on education benefits in 2013, with 16,500 of UPS’ 318,000 full- and part-time employees in the United States taking advantage of the tuition assistance program, a company spokeswoman said. The package delivery company offers tuition assistance in varying dollar amounts to full- and part-time employees.

Ms. Sladek said she typically works with her clients to conduct surveys and focus groups with workers because “the very best work-life benefits in the world aren’t helpful at all if they aren’t targeted to the right population.”