Calculating your Training Return on Investment

Return on investment (ROI) is one of the most important metrics for any business especially if they are looking to transition from Instructor-Led training to digital e-learning solutions. To successfully manage an organization takes capital investment, and if those investments don’t reap rewards, you are obligated to adjust strategy and tactics. Conversely, if they’re giving you a huge return, you want to ensure you increase your investment to maximize gains.

It’s easy to assume that training is always a good investment, but that’s not always the case. When the investment is good, there are often multiple options, some having higher levels of effectiveness than others. But how do you figure out when your learning and development activities are good investments?

Every outgoing expense in your organization has the same purpose: increased revenue. Spending money on training ensures that your employees are providing high-quality services in an efficient manner. After all, this provides an opportunity to recoup time lost and put highly trained individuals in seats sooner rather than later.

Transitioning from life to digital learning is like anything else; you need to gather data to see if it’s working. If you’re seeing a positive return on your investment, then the training is working. You’re equipping your employees with more information and skills that help them do their jobs more efficiently. Something to keep in mind is that not all trainers can easily make the switch to Instructional Designer, and might require additional upskilling, therefore increasing costs and reducing your ROI potential.

A not-so-positive return means the training isn’t having the desired effect. Maybe printing costs are too high, or it’s added another layer of expense or the result of trainers unable to make the transition from trainer to the designer (skills such as instructional design are very different from the skill set of a platform trainer).

Whatever the reason, you need to know about it and track it. That’s why having a robust ROI measurement system in place to analyze your training is so critical.

Figuring out the return on learning and development activities takes time, effort, and communication between departments especially when converting from live learning to e-learning.

But if you’re serious about getting the most for your investment when it comes to training, it’s absolutely worth working with a partner that can not only help create effective e-learning solutions but maintain them for the long term.