Stretch Your Training Dollars

Company training plans are often hit or miss. Many managers set a date, pick a topic, train and then hope for the best. But how is that training affecting the organization’s bottom line? Is the training increasing productivity? Is it improving employee retention? Does it help to establish a competitive edge for the company? Are the organization’s training dollars well spent?
 
One training approach does not fit all companies’ needs, but there are several ways to receive maximum impact from your training. WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA (WCF) offers these solutions to stretch your training dollars:
 
Review the Company’s Needs. Training must support company goals and objectives. Establish what goals your company is trying to achieve and what must be accomplished to meet them. Compare your employees’ skills to those necessary to help you reach your goal.
 
Set Measurable Objectives for Training and Decide How to Evaluate It. Set ways to measure your results after training is completed. For example, in order to measure how much money was generated by the trained employees, you must establish the amount of profit you started with. Ask yourself questions such as: Is your goal to improve profits, and if yes, by how much? Do you wish to train to ensure safety? Will you measure this by a decrease in job-related injuries? 
 
Establish How Much to Invest in Training. Costs you may incur include time spent by trainers, either absorbed through in-house training or paid to an outside training vendor; training materials; wages for time off of work; possible lost sales opportunities or lower productivity while employee is being trained; and, travel and lodging expenses. In order to properly measure training’s return on investment, all money spent must be accounted for.
 
Create the Training Program.  Research courses that meet your established objectives. Determine whether you will train in-house or hire an outside vendor.
 
Decide Which Employees to Train. Choose employees who you think are most likely to understand and implement the practices. Also, it’s important to train managers as well.
 
Facilitate Training. Make the training practical. Do not try to cram tons of information into a marathon training session. The goal is for your employees to learn a new behavior, so they can begin to practice it daily. 
 
Apply Skills in the Workplace. After training, ask your employees how they can apply their new skills in the workplace and encourage them to switch from their old ways to the new. Provide them with the tools they may need to apply the skills, such as software templates, checklists or reminder cards. Also, consider implementing a reward system for those who use their new knowledge.
 
Evaluate the Training Program. After training is completed, it’s important to measure the program’s effectiveness. Follow up with employees to determine if they were able to utilize the skills learned. Do managers encourage employees to apply the new behavior? What feedback do employees have about the training courses? Were employees trained properly? Was the training given in the correct environment? How do your training costs compare to your profit? And, most important, determine if you met your goals. 
 
Before jumping into a training program, make sure you are not wasting your training dollars. Determine what your goals are and then decide how training can help you reach them. After the training, don’t forget to evaluate the program, so you can tweak it if necessary.
 
Stretch your training dollars with WCF’s Employed Worker Training Program, a flexible program designed to provide financial assistance to employers that recognize the importance of investing in their employees.