Reviving Training’s DOA ROI
ROI is a funny thing. Why is it that no one directs the IT department to “get us the return-on-investment on our e-mail system,” yet corporations think nothing of forcing the training department to project ROI on every learning program and technology deployed? And a down economy only intensifies the scrutiny.
It’s to be expected that the CEO of a large company that’s spending millions on training and developing employees might wonder what he or she is getting in return, especially when the pressure is on to cut expenses in order to meet analyst’s quarterly estimates. However, as with most “soft” issues, it can be difficult to show tangible results from such intangible processes. Although employee training has been an integral part of the corporate environment a heck of a lot longer than e-mail, it hasn’t reached the “we don’t need to measure it – we know it’s invaluable” status in most organizations.
The perception among many senior leaders that training isn’t “mission-critical” is often the reason why the training budget is the first on the chopping block when companies look to reduce expenses. But as previous ASTD/i4cp studies have shown, cutting the training budget is a practice most associated with low-performing organizations; high performers generally keep it intact. If that’s the case, why is training ROI all too often dead-on-arrival in companies today?
Write a comment
