The amount of investment dedicated toward training and development is remarkable.
According to the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), U.S. businesses spent
$171.5 billion on learning activities in 2010 (Market Watch, 2012). With such a large price tag
comes well-deserved scrutiny. Human resource professionals will adamantly declare the
importance and need for training and development activities, yet few actually measure any type
of return on investment (ROI). This disconnect may be attributed to a number of different
possibilities, but whatever the reason, HR professionals need to be able to identify the
measurable impact that these development activities have on business performance.