Training ROI Breakthrough

Business Performance Pty Ltd | 28 May 2008

Even though U.S. companies spend over one billion dollars annually on employee training, bottom-line impact on company performance is largely unknown. ASTD studies continually report that less than ten percent of companies attempt to measure the organizational impact of their training programs.

To date, training impact models and methods have either been too complicated or too expensive to implement. With the release of its new Training Evaluation Toolkit this week, business consulting firm Business Performance P/L aims to turn the tide on measuring the impact of training.

The Director of Business Performance P/L, Vicki Heath, explained, “As training budgets become more constrained, training managers need to think more strategically about how they spend their training dollars. With this guide and toolset, it is now possible to measure the impact of each of their high-value programs without causing a lot of anxiety and breaking the budget.”

The toolkit provides simple yet effective tools for calculating non-financial benefits, such as productivity, efficiency, quality, customer satisfaction, and so on. With the use of the financial worksheets included, these are then converted to financial values. In addition to measuring and reporting Return on Investment (ROI), the worksheets will also calculate other financial results, including Benefit to Cost Ratio (BCR), Payback Period and Net Present Value (NPV).

The toolkit is suitable for people with no background in performance measurement and financial calculations. Each worksheet is populated with working examples that trainers can follow before they enter their own data. In addition to the financial worksheets, the guide also comes complete with an array of data collection forms and reporting templates. These are all provided in softcopy format so that trainers can customize and reuse them time and again.

The toolkit’s author, Leslie Allan, added, “Trainers are often reluctant to measure the impact and ROI of training because of the difficulty in teasing out the effects of training from other factors, such the installation of a new, more efficient machine. This guide provides trainers with clear and concise tools and techniques for isolating and quantifying the benefits from the training program. With the abundance of real life examples and easy to use financial calculators, training professionals that were once afraid of this whole area of training ROI will be able to evaluate the return on their programs with confidence.”

The reusable and customizable forms and worksheets are supplied as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel files. The toolkit can be used on any Microsoft Windows-based PC with Word and Excel installed. The guide is supplied as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file. Adobe Acrobat PDF files are readable on almost any computer. The Adobe Acrobat Reader is available as a free download from the Adobe website.

Business Performance P/L has made available the introductory chapter of the guide and the resource list as a free download. The complimentary download and the full toolkit are available from the Business Performance P/L website at www.businessperform.com/html/training_evaluation_toolkit.html

About Leslie Allan:
Leslie Allan has been assisting organizations improve their capability for over 20 years. He has contributed in various roles as manager, consultant and trainer within the manufacturing and service industries, both for public and private sector organizations. Mr. Allan’s external and internal consulting roles have seen him lead successful projects in strategic planning, workplace communications, and quality and HR information systems. He is also a seasoned instructional designer and trainer, having taught programs in both vocational colleges and industry. Mr. Allan is a prolific writer on business issues, with many journal and web articles to his credit. He is also the author of five books on employee capability, training and change management.

About Business Performance Pty Ltd:
Established in 2003, Business Performance Pty Ltd provides business and management consulting services globally in a range of business areas. From its website, the company also proudly supplies a wide selection of business and management software products designed to make managing organizations easier and more effective. Products featured include tools, templates and guides in the areas of training and employee development, project management, organizational change and career planning. All products can be purchased and downloaded easily from anywhere in the world from the Business Performance Pty Ltd website at www.businessperform.com

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