Employee training during economic downturn

Ask any economist, CEO, COO or CFO and they will tell you that on top of the budget list that gets cut during an uncertain economic situation is training. Meanwhile, the human resource (HR) or training department will argue that training is essential to the organization’s survival. They will fight for every last penny that the company can spare just to train staff in necessary skills.

So who’s right? Perhaps, it is not advisable to merely side with one party. Or, more precisely, there may be a better way or a win-win solution. How?

Training is an investment. First of all, companies need to understand that training is not a cost but an investment. Investing in human capital enables the staff to have the necessary skills to propel the company into profitability when the economy picks up. In addition, employees feel better appreciated and motivated, thus encouraging loyalty – especially during business downturns. Besides, the best time to train employees is during a slack period when there is no work overload. They can concentrate on improving skills instead of running after deadlines.

Non-traditional training tools offer less expensive alternatives. Since the training budget has been downsized, companies need to look for cost-effective ways of training. With alternative forms of training tools such as online corporate universities, training may be delivered with the same quality for the same number of people, for the same amount of skills at less cost. In addition, miscellaneous expenses such as travel, accommodation, food and the like are taken out of the equation. This satisfies the company, particularly the CFO, and the training department.

Shared ownership. There should be a 50/50 responsibility split between the company and its employees. While the company must feel involvement and ownership of the training programs, so should the employees. Providing employees with access to traditional and online learning support, as well as instructor-led training, emphasizes the need for the staffmembers to be active participants in the training process. Ownership ensures that both employees and management work toward the success of their training programs.

Learning measurement. Companies should look for a good measurement of the training program(s)’ progress. Since the budget is scarce, utmost maximization becomes a must. Traditional training typically offers limited testing of the participants’ skills for fear of being a poor reflection on the overall program. Measurement of the course effectiveness against the objective can be monitored closely by training tools such as online pre- and post-testing following a training assignment.

Take advantage of the slack time. Since there is no work overload, it might also be a good time to create, rewrite, convert or revamp company-specific training materials. The training department, with the undivided cooperation of the management and employees, can focus on building, recreating or converting training manuals that will be helpful when the economy recovers. Authoring tools are a good way of converting paper manuals into easily distributed courseware.

Everyone in a company admits that training is important – whether in good or bad economic times. It simply becomes more challenging to provide effective training when there is no sufficient budget during the negative periods. Maybe it is time we explore the non-traditional and focus on alternative training solutions.

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Arlene K. Yap-Tan is CEO of Yapster e-Learning Inc., a member of Yapster e-Conglomerate Inc. You may contact her at [email protected].