How Do You Decide the Right Training Hours for Different Staff Levels in a Company?

Dear All,

Hi. I have been tasked with improving our training function within the company and came across a question for which I require some expert advice.

Question: How do I determine the appropriate training hours for each category of staff, including operators, supervisors, clerks, executives, senior executives, section heads, deputy managers, managers, and senior managers?

The company includes departments such as the Factory, R&D, QA, QC, Warehousing, Procurement, Marketing, Sales, Finance, HR, and Corporate Communications.

I appreciate your kind assistance and expertise.

Smiles and cheers,

Noel Liew

TRAINING DAYS ALLOCATION

NOEL,

The training days allocation in the corporate budget varies with:

- business situation
- business needs
- IT
- NON-IT
- change in technology
- change in product offers
- financial situation/constraints/availability
- cash flow
- competitive situation
- HR development needs
- etc.

WHAT I CAN GIVE YOU HERE IS A BROAD UNIVERSAL APPROACH ADOPTED AS A GUIDELINE BY MANY LARGE ORGANIZATIONS.

WITHOUT NAMING NAMES, I AM OUTLINING AN APPROACH ADOPTED BY AN ORGANIZATION [NON-IT] EMPLOYING 600 PEOPLE.

The corporate guideline was, as a rule of thumb, 3 days of training for everyone in the organization during the 12-month budget period.

SO, UNDER THE GUIDELINE OF 3 DAYS PER PERSON WORKED OUT TO 3 X 600 = 1800 TRAINING DAYS.

NOW THIS MUST BE ALLOCATED TO THE WORKFORCE OF 600 PEOPLE.

THE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE SHOWED:

1. SENIOR MANAGEMENT......................................[15]
2. MIDDLE MANAGEMENT......................................[35]
3. FIRST LINE MANAGEMENT..................................[55]
4. STAFF SPECIALISTS [like R&D, LEGAL, etc]............[20]
5. SALES STAFF............................................. ............[60]
6. SUPERVISORS....................................... ................[80]
7. OFFICE STAFF............................................. ..........[200]
8. FACTORY FOREMEN........................................... .[10]
9. JUNIOR FACTORY SUPERVISORS.........................[45]
10. OPERATORS......................................... ...............[80]

TOTAL............................................. .................................600

THE ALLOCATION OF TRAINING DAYS:

1. SENIOR MANAGEMENT......................................[15] x 4
2. MIDDLE MANAGEMENT......................................[35] x 4
3. FIRST LINE MANAGEMENT..................................[55] x 4
4. STAFF SPECIALISTS [like R&D, LEGAL, etc]............[20] x 4
5. SALES STAFF............................................. ............[60] x 4
6. SUPERVISORS....................................... ................[80] x 4
7. OFFICE STAFF............................................. ..........[200] x 2
8. FACTORY FOREMEN........................................... .[10] x 4
9. JUNIOR FACTORY SUPERVISORS.........................[45] x 3
10. OPERATORS......................................... ...............[80] x 2

TOTAL............................................. .................................1800 TRAINING DAYS

THE ALLOCATION OF DAYS FOR EACH CATEGORY WAS BASED ON A NUMBER OF FACTORS LIKE:

- LEVEL OF DECISION MAKING
- TYPE OF OPERATION MANAGEMENT
- CHANGING MARKET CONDITIONS
- ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS AFFECTING OPERATION
- FREQUENCY OF CHANGES
- CHANGES IN MANAGING TECHNOLOGY
- RESPONSIBILITIES
- ACCOUNTABILITIES
- etc.

THIS IS A BROAD GUIDELINE.

IN ACTUAL SITUATIONS, YOU MUST ALWAYS TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION YOUR OWN RELEVANT FACTORS.

In some US companies, they allocate 4 days in a year.

Regards,

LEO LINGHAM

I have seen training hours allocated in a number of organizations. I feel this is useful in orgs that have not had a culture of learning and the org wants to change the mindset. However, once you get past this stage, the concept of allocated hours I find strikes at the heart of what training should be used for. Training conducted should be based on needs, both individual, department and organization wide. These vary from person to person, dept to dept and as the org meets different competitive pressures. We can't pretend that some simple formula of training days is going to match these specific needs.

What we have done in the past is to determine the real training needs, looking at strategic and operational plans and the output from individual development plans. We then allocate a training budget and divide it up along strategic training solutions and individual training solutions. The split might be say 60 percent strategic and 40 percent individual. The individual training part of the budget is then divided up amongst the various departments to use in line with the output of their dept plans and individual performance appraisals.

This worked out much more effective for the organization than saying that all process operators must have two days training.

Vicki Heath

http://www.businessperform.com

Hi,

The effort requires us to understand both the training needs of each department and the training needs of each hierarchy level based on changes/reorientation and the outcomes the company is looking for. Assuming that an organization is at the level of stabilizing moving out of the growth stage, the focus would shift from creation to operational excellence. We could consider training in two directions - Functional and Behavioral. This will guide us on how much each department and hierarchy need to unlearn and re-learn. Based on this, you could decide the time for each employee for a year.

If you need to discuss more, provide me with the departments, employees, business information, how long the company has been in existence, the growth curve of the organization, and what the company is looking at one year from now and five years from now. Based on this information, I could help you frame a way to decide the appropriate time. Reach me at o.edge@yahoo.co.in.

Thank you.