Employee training programs are often a large investment for companies, including hospitals and health systems. But often there is no measure of how these programs affect behavior change, Laszlo Bock, CEO of training startup Humu, wrote for Harvard Business Review.
In 2018, U.S. companies spent about $90 billion on employee learning and development efforts. The same year, training the average American cost about $1,000 per person, which, for a company employing 50,000, could amount to about $50 million a year.
Mr. Bock writes it's not the programs that are the problem, but a lack of data to analyze what is and isn't working in these training exercises. About 1 in 5 organizations don't measure the effects of employee training, according to a survey of 1,500 executives cited by Mr. Bock.
"What most companies miss is that learning at work isn't about how many hours you put in, it's about getting the right information to the right people at the right time," he writes. "Simply put: you learn best when you learn less."
Mr. Bock suggested four things to keep in mind while training employees:
- Break bigger goals into smaller milestones to make skill-building easier.
- Make feedback a habit of the program.
- Provide regular reminders like emails or in-person check-ins.
- Only invest in what works in a training program.
Read more here.
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