Determine training that suits you and your budget
There’s a plethora of external sources to partner with, whether it be sending administrators to pursue master’s degrees or training employees on communication techniques. Colleges and universities tend to be the best bang for the buck, offering a one-stop shop with consulting, full implementation and a broad range of courses.
When it comes to training, the costs that add up are flying in topic experts, sending employees to out-of-town conferences or even holding training off-site. If you’re hoping to trim your training budget — and it seems many are — then think locally. Look at the office training and online services offered by local community colleges and universities.
Tough times call for creativity. Think about internal and external resources that lend themselves to free training. Check professional associations for round tables and seminars. Survey your employees on their areas of expertise and hold brown-bag lunches on those topics. If you’re bringing training in-house, just make sure you’re using a variety of techniques to meet each employee’s learning styles.
“I see more from the training managers that I’m speaking with, now that they’re looking at more informal learning opportunities and knowledge-sharing opportunities,” VanRooy says. “There’s time invested on somebody putting that together, but it also builds employee engagement. It’s an opportunity, if you to have one of your executives lead some of these, to give your executive some face time with people so they also feel more engaged with what’s happening with the company.”
And look for funding sources — federal, state and local organizations offer training grants, whether it’s the U.S. Department of Labor or one of your local economic development corporations.
If you’re thinking about dramatically cutting your budget, first think about why you have training in the first place: to improve your retention, customer satisfaction, corporate culture and the overall growth of the company.
“Those [companies] that you look at that are participating in training or investing in training, whether it be with the colleges or other organizations, typically their productivity — in metric terminology — is much further ahead than a lot of their competitors that are just looking for sole cost reduction,” says Potantus, adding the No. 1 asset of a company is its employees. “If you invest in that group, the residual return on your investment is probably limitless. 
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