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Businesses 'should assess training like investments'

Published On 15 May 2007 at 08:51:38

Businesses should assess their training schemes in exactly the same way as they look at any other form of investment, according to industry experts.

Research firm Gardner revealed that it feels too few businesses bother to treat learning initiatives as investments and do not calculate the return on investment (ROI) they will derive from it.

"To conform to good business practice, any business initiative that costs time and money for design and execution, and which often takes people away from performing their regular jobs, should somehow set expectations for the ROI," explained Andrew Walker, a research director at the firm.

"Too frequently, the measures used for determining the value of learning are input measures and are of little help.

Mr Walker added that companies should "evaluate different types of learning and their impact" to determine the most effective training schemes.

Recent research from Vantis found that less than half of the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK had a scheme in place to train a successor should the owner-manager step down.

 

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