In an era when many companies are questioning the value of training this this excerpt from Keith McFarland’s bestselling book The Breakthrough Company shows that one of the best run companies thinks of training in a different way.  

“Even supposedly cheap Fastenal offers college-level training to its employees through its Fastenal School of Business, which receives a budget equivalent to 2 percent of the company’s payroll. The school, however, is not a money sinkhole. Peter Guidinger, a PhD who has been running the school since its start in 1999, says it produces a 10-to-1 return on investment for its two-week new-store-employee training program. In one study he ran, Guidinger found that managers increased store revenues by 10 percent on average after attending at least a week’s worth of sales training.”

Another example is Paychex:

About half of Paychex’s 11,000 employees spend at least a week each year training in Rochester. All employees receive on average an astounding 121 hours of training each year. That’s why, if necessary, a single Paychex payroll specialist can support more than 200 customers.” 

What other companies are examples of using training to build a strategic advantage?

Using a Dog Clicker to improve your E-learning…who would’ve thunk it.   When recording audio have a dog clicker in hand.  When you make a mistake click on it.  The sharp click is easy to spot in the sound editor and makes it a lot easier to edit out the mistake.