When asked to report on a training investment,
training managers often hesitate to calculate the
costs necessary to develop, deliver, and evaluate
training, and are reluctant to document and report
the benefits such as increased quality,
productivity, sales, and so forth. Among the
reasons cited for this reluctance are the:
l lack of reliable cost figures;
l difficulty in identifying, monitoring, and
quantifying training benefits;
l subjective and questionable nature of the
assumptions to be made;
l inability to isolate training’s influence on
performance improvements from other factors;
l time and effort involved in calculating the
costs and documenting the benefits of training;
and
l potential for unfavourable returns on the
investment.
Notwithstanding these and other reasons, training
managers, who feel the need to justify training
with evidence that the benefits exceed costs, will
welcome the opportunity to determine the cost
effectiveness of training using the methods
presented. These methods can provide
quantitative evidence that effective training is a
worthwhile investment rather than a cost. Once in
place, the methods become easier to use each time
they are applied.