Achieving a Return on Your Training Investment

Public agencies participate in a wide range of training activities. The cost of training is usually only measured in terms of registration fees and travel, therefore the full cost is often not fully realized. As important, the return on the training investment is seldom measured. The reason: Implementation of the knowledge gained in the classroom is rarely practiced. To achieve a return on your training investment, it is important to develop training around clear objectives and to include implementation as a critical element of the training. This paper describes this process and also includes two examples of public agencies that have achieve a return on their training investment by successfully reducing operation and maintenance costs and by deferring capital expansion.