Too often when we calculate training costs, we only consider the direct costs, e.g., trainer’s fee, room rental, food, a/v equipment, supplies, etc. What is often overlooked are the indirect costs of training, including staff time and the creation of “ill will” if the training is not executed well.
Staff costs are easy to caculate: take the number of staff in training, multiply that by the number of hours the staff person is away from their “real” work, and multiply that number by their fully loaded hourly rate. For example, say you have 5 staff away from their desks for three hours and their fully loaded hourly rate is $85. That’s 5x3x85=$1,275 of indirect costs.
But what if the training is ineffective? Now we have to add in the “cost” of “ill will.” That is, if the training is viewed as a waste of time, not only have you wasted those direct and indirect dollars, you’ve also annoyed your staff. And if the training was related to your database, you have just caused your staff to mistrust the database. Because what staff will remember is “The training was a waste” and by extension, “The database doesn’t work.”
This kind of damage is incalculable and very difficult to overcome.
That’s why I’m presenting a one-hour teleseminar entitled “Don’t Waste Another Dollar on Training: How to Ensure Your Training Dollars are Spent For Ultimate Effectiveness” from Noon to 1pm Eastern on Thursday, March 5, 2009. Click here to register. Or if you can’t attend, click here to buy the mp3 download.