The Business Case for
Work-based Learning Programs
The purpose of this site is to provide you with resources, information,
tools, tips, and an online community of practice, to help you make
the business case for work-based learning programs. Reading the promising
practices entries on this website, reviewing the shared
stories and tip sheets, participating in the discussion
forums, and downloading the various planning
template tools, will put you in a better position to show how
investments in work-based learning programs can lead to substantial
benefits – including returns above and beyond associated costs
- for all stakeholders (employers, workers, shareholders, communities,
policy-makers, etc.).
Work-basedLearning.com is a companion site to ScorecardforSkills.com.
While this site takes a fairly broad approach to making the business
case for work-based learning programs, the ScorecardforSkills.com
site uses the Balanced Scorecard as an organizing principle for
tying workplace education to important business initiatives and
objectives.
In addition to the resources on this site and ScorecardforSkills.com,
there is a growing body of research supporting the connection between
investments in work-based learning and positive bottom-line returns
for organizations. Some key examples are noted below. For a more
complete list, visit the Research section.
Profiting
From Learning: Do Firms’ Investments in Education and Training
Pay Off? (Laurie J. Bassi, Jens Ludwig, Daniel P. McMurrer,
Mark Van Buren, ASTD 2000)
This American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) study
found a significant correlation between what firms invest in work-based
learning efforts and their total stockholder return (TSR). Of close
to 600 companies examined in this study, it was clear that those
firms who invested in employee development experienced better earnings,
a higher return on equity, and better stock performance. Specifically,
this study found that firms that invest more than the average amount
on work-based learning programs have total stockholder returns that
are 86% higher than firms that invest less than the average, and
45% higher than the total market average. The bottom line is that
training does create value for organizations.
Turning
Skills into Profit: Economic Benefits of Workplace Education Programs
(Michael R. Bloom and Brenda Lafleur, Conference Board, 1999)
On behalf of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of
Vocational and Adult Education, The Conference Board studied 45
national workplace education projects. This study documented the
following economic benefits of work-based learning efforts for participating
organizations and their employees:
| Bottom Line Benefits |
• Increased profitability
•
Better health and safety record
• Increased customer
retention
• Increased employee retention
•
Enhanced corporate image / employer of choice |
| Ability to Work Better
and Smarter |
• Increased quality of work
•
Increased output of products / services
• Reduced
time per task
• Reduced error rate
• Improved
health and safety record
• Less waste |
| New Attitudes |
• Improved capacity to cope with change
in the workplace
• Improved labor-management relations
• Reduced absenteeism
• Improved employee morale
• Development of lifelong learning attitudes |
| Working with Others |
• Improved team performance
•
Improved effectiveness of supervisory staff
• Improved
understanding of organizational culture |
| Basic Skills |
• Improved capacity to solve problems
• Improved capacity to cope with change in the workplace
• Improved capacity to use new technology
•
Increased capacity to handle on-the-job-training |
| Job-Specific Skills |
• More employees participate in job-specific
training
• Improved and faster results in job-specific
training |
| Improved Human Capital |
| • Higher success rate in promoting and
transferring employees within the organization |
Quotations on the Business Case for Workplace Education
Programs from Turning Skills Into Profit Report
| “We have invested in
our employees. They have given back. That is profitable.”
|
James D’Agostino, CEO Mount San Raphael
Hospital
Colorado
|
| “The end product of
workplace education programs is an empowered and better-skilled
employee ready to not only bring excellence to the workplace
but to dream realistic dreams regarding career and education
goals as well as job advancement. This process then reflects
a remarkable return on investment.” |
Barbara Edwards, Coordinator
The Johns Hopkins Hospital Skills Enhancement Program
Maryland
|
| “Before training, quality
was a result of luck rather than intention.” |
William Fleet, Director of Human Resources
Seattle Marriott Hotel
Washington
|
| “We wanted employees
to understand procedures and instructions and to be able to
think critically and logically. These were key elements in moving
toward a team concept in our workplace. In a lot of cases now,
the teams run themselves and don’t need supervisors.”
|
Ed Whitbred, Cast House Director
East Alco Aluminum Plant
Maryland
|
National
Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) – Australia
The NCVER has undertaken quite a few Return on Investment
(ROI) studies of work-based learning efforts. Their own studies,
and their review of the field, suggest the following about investments
in training:
• Returns on training
investments are nearly always positive, and can be very high
• Returns can come in many forms
• Immediate
returns are highest when work-based learning programs are highly
focused
• Measuring returns is not always an easy
task
• Training can act as a support mechanism for
other changes in the organization
• Returns on training
can be enhanced by other human resource policies n the organization |
|
The Business Case...
