Exert from Workforce magazine
Training Proves Its Worth.

Author/s: Carroll Lachnit
Issue: Sept, 2001

[…..If training programs are going to survive the budget knives during this economic downturn, they have to prove their worth. Did training bring the company new customers? Did it reduce turnover? Did it increase sales? And can HR actually show how training affects the bottom line?

Absolutely, says Richard Roth, managing director of Hackett Benchmarking and Research.

Companies that spend more than the average amount on training have a higher placement of internal hires, and that reduces, in real dollars, recruiting costs and downtime, he says.

" The other thing we're able to show is that companies that spend more on training have lower annual turnover."
Companies that spend $218 per employee in training and development have more than 16 percent annual voluntary turnover, Roth says. Companies that spend $273 per employee have less than 7 percent annual voluntary turnover. "To me, it's pretty compelling," he says.

Jack J. Phillips, an expert in measurement, evaluation, and return on investment, agrees with Roth about the opportunities that HR has to demonstrate the link between training and business results. "It can be done, and done accurately, but not as easily as some people would like," he says. "You can get that connection with credibility and accuracy, but it involves a disciplined methodology to do that." Here's a short course in how to do it. ……..]