Training Evaluation Metrics

There is a need to evaluate the outsourced training program so that a company will know that the training objectives are met and that training costs incurred are worth it.

To determine if investments made on training are able to deliver significant ROIs for the company, it is a must to evaluate the outsourced training program. Training plays an important role in the achievement of organizational objectives, as many studies have shown that it is strongly related to employee loyalty, improved employee performance, and overall customer satisfaction.

While costs of training can be easily computed, the costs of NOT training are almost always overlooked by companies that believe training their people will just be an unnecessary burden for them. What these companies do not know is that training actually improves employee retention. According to a poll conducted by the firm, Louis Harris and Associates, more than 40% of employees planned to leave the company they worked for because they offer either poor or no training at all. Contrastingly, only 12% of employees of companies that provide excellent employee training declared any plans to stop their employment. Another study revealed that employees who are untrained are able to finish certain tasks longer than they would usually take if they were trained. Given all these advantages, more and more companies have now taken a second look at their training and development programs.

Outsourcing a training program has become one of the emerging trends for many companies today. Outsourcing, generally, is the act of subcontracting a process to a third-party company. This means that instead of hiring people that the company will pay regularly to train their internal customers or employees, they would just hire the services of an outsider that has gained much expertise in training people. Many companies have opted to use outsourcing so as to maximize results as well as to yield higher ROIs. Moreover, through outsourcing, companies are better able to focus or concentrate their resources on their competencies or the things that they do best. Likewise, several studies have shown that with outsourced training, companies are able to save approximately 73% of training costs compared to in-house training.

With outsourced training programs, company managers are confident that their employees’ training needs will be effectively addressed by the outsourced training consultants that have gained expertise in their field. Outsourced trainers are also more up-to-date with the latest trends in technology compared to in-house trainers, as the former have more exposure to different companies than the latter. Employees can benefit from this advantage, as outsourced trainers more often than not include this in their training curriculum. Likewise, since most outsourced trainings are done offsite, employees would be able to focus more, as they will not be distracted by the daily demands of their jobs.

Nevertheless, there are also disadvantages in outsourcing training. For one, the services of outsourced trainers and consultants can be very pricey. They can also be time-consuming for they are more often than not done offsite, which require employees to travel. Moreover, the content of training programs may be too general and might not be customized to an individual corporate culture. Amidst all the pros and cons cited, it is imperative the company should evaluate the outsourced training program and determine if it would be appropriate to continue investing on it.