Search results

Three components of the literature on measuring the rate of return on investment in employee training by United States (US) employers are reviewed: studies that use large samples of firm-level or establishment-level data collected through mail or phone surveys; studies that use data from one or two companies to conduct an 'econometric' case study and company-sponsored case studies. The strengths and weaknesses of each of these approaches are evaluated and the estimated returns on investments (ROIs) are compared. The analysis indicates that the employer's return on investments in training may be much higher than previously believed. In order to obtain accurate information on the employer's ROI from training, researchers should be encouraged to gain access to company databases and to supplement them with data gathering efforts to collect information on variables needed to isolate the effect of training.