Orlando Business Journal

To learn more about us

Home Page

------------------------------------------------------------

   Employee training and education are the most reliable tools companies can use to keep an edge over the competition, according to data collected by the American Society for Training and Development.

    In fact, there is evidence that investments in work force training can predict a company's future financial performance, including stockholder return.

    The ASTD found that of 575 publicly traded firms reviewed between 1996 and 1998, those that invested $680 more in training per employee than the average company in the study improved their total stockholder return by 6 percent even after other factors were considered.

    Not only is a firm's commitment to workplace learning directly linked to its bottom line, researchers found a link to the gross profit margin and income per employee.

    Firms in the top quarter of the study group invested an average of $1,595 per employee in training and had 24 percent higher gross profit margins and 218 percent higher income per employee than firms in the bottom quarter, which invested $128 per employee.

    Offering higher education and training is not just for large public companies. Any business can keep its competitive edge and retain talented employees by offering them programs that develop their skills, the ASTD says.

    "The first thing a company should do is to identify what its training needs are," said Jennifer Homer, ASTD spokeswoman in Alexandria, Va.

 "(Training) doesn't begin and end with a course," Homer says. "A company ought to be looking at developing a long-term plan. It doesn't have to be complex."

    Nor should it be limited to large corporations. Small and medium-sized companies should be thinking long-term when implementing a program.

    "A learning plan is as important as a financial plan or marketing plan," Homer said.

    Once a company has decided to initiate a plan, several steps need to be taken.

 Copyright (c) American City Business Journals Inc.  All rights reserved.