Training saves you money while increasing employee satisfaction at work. That is the claim in a paper, entitled The shadow value of employer-provided training, recently published by the Centre for Applied Economic Studies of the Atlantic. Researchers Santiago Budría of the University of Madeira and Pablo Swedberg from St Louis University, Madrid, have analysed the self-reported job satisfaction of workers and the causal link with employer-provided training.The report links these increases in job satisfaction to improved productivity, and contends employers may be missing an opportunity, or even damaging employee job satisfaction, when they cut training.
This has significant implications for how training is measured and evaluated. If training in itself increases job satisfaction and, therefore, increases productivity, measures that rely on work-based changes in behaviour and performance may be significantly underestimating the return on the value of training. But there is a complication: the report found that for workers who have mid to low levels of job satisfaction, provision of training is highly valued, in fact to the same extent as a 17.7 per cent increase in pay. But training made little or no difference to employees who reported high job satisfaction.
The research also found that short training interventions were most valued and that part-time training was as valued as full-time training. This aligns with neuroscience studies that show learning is more effective when training is delivered in chunks with space between sessions. This is another opportunity to improve the value of training, while potentially reducing the cost.
We have been successfully using much shorter training interventions alongside online learning materials supported by social learning. The creation of a community of learners with 24/7 access to brain-friendly, multi-channel materials such as video and audio files, linked by technology to each others’ expertise, and to questions directed at solving job-related issues, is providing a new and effective learning method.
HR has long known that training can be seen as a reward by employees, and are generally critical of people managers who use the provision of training in this way. But maybe those managers were right all along? Training provision is a key component in creating an employer-of-choice-type work environment, not just for the skills it brings for achieving company goals but for the impact it has on job satisfaction. There are numerous studies that have demonstrated the link between job satisfaction and company performance. Only a few die-hard managers can dispute that link. So, next time the CFO demands a cut in training budgets you might want to have added in the 17.7 per cent saving in the wage bill you have made.
Seriously, this study does suggest we should be looking carefully at how we are measuring the return on investment of training.