Steps for Outsourcing Your Organization’s Training

We're in the age of education-as-benefit at work. That means employees have come to expect not just onboarding and job training, but continuous upskilling. While these expectations and the learning culture push ultimately helps make our organizations future-ready, having the right training offerings for employees at every level and role can be a huge strain. That's probably why outsourcing employee training has become a $5 billion plus industry. 

But outsourcing is not a set and forget endeavor. Of course, you want any workforce development investment to create value, bring cost savings if possible, and provide flexibility where you need it. Attaining these benefits takes front-end legwork.

You’ve got to be clear on your exact training needs, think through how you’ll build enthusiasm for these learning opportunities and carefully select and forge a strong relationship with a training provider. “When outsourcing, you’re looking for a partner who can become an extension of your organization,” said Michele Markey, former SkillPath CEO and career-long corporate trainer. “They should not only be on the same page, but the whole experience should be a collaboration with concrete objectives — even if it’s initially for just one training event.”

Why organizations are sometimes hesitant to outsource employee training

For some of us, outsourcing can leave us feeling that we’re spending more than we should and losing some level of control. In many cases, the right training vendor can lower the cost of training and give you a higher level of topic expertise and facilitation.

As an analogy, think about the way we use Uber and public transportation in a major city. Sure, you could drive yourself around the city in your own car, but even that is costing you — time and money. You don’t know the quickest routes. You’re uncomfortable with the crazy traffic. And finding affordable parking is next to impossible. By “outsourcing” your transportation needs, you’re able to get places faster, avoid parking fees and save yourself a ton of stress.

But to outsource well — whether it’s your personal transportation needs or a vital business function like employee training — you must first know where you’re going.

Consider four key steps when outsourcing your employee training:

1. Clarify your budget, training needs and timeline.

   • Determine your budget. 

     How much can you realistically spend on employee development? The average training expenditure per learner hovers around $1,000 annually — slightly more for smaller organizations and slightly less for larger organizations, due to economies of scale.

   • Assess employee skills gaps and interests. 

     What hard and soft skills does each employee need to handle current and upcoming responsibilities?  What are individual employees' career goals? Reviewing job descriptions and past performance reviews can help you dig deeper into each role. Also consider team or organizational needs. Is your organization experiencing high turnover, not enough employees with management skills, unhappy customers, low sales? Targeted training can help with so many of these challenges.

   • Identify measurable outcomes. 

     What are you expecting to change post training? Consider both tangible (retention, productivity, quality, response time, conflicts, etc.) and intangible (engagement, stress, creativity, communications, etc.) metrics. Then be specific as you chart expectations: You want customer service ratings to improve by xx. You want employee retention to increase by xx.

2. Compare training providers in several categories.

   • Experience/authority. 

     Review each organization’s online reputation. Notice their authority on specific topics — blogs, social media, or other online information.

   • Variety/selection. 

     How much variety is there in the organization’s training topics? Do they offer the training formats you want? You’re dealing with a variety of learners’ preferences — from synchronous, instructor-led classroom courses to asynchronous, self-paced learning.

   • Flexibility. 

     Will the provider tailor live programs so that activities and examples are relevant to your learners? Are they able to accommodate remote learners as well as classroom learners? Can they offer you a consistent facilitator(s) who learns about your organization so they can address training needs more effectively? Do they have a learning platform? Can you license digital learning content from them?

   • Quality. 

     Is the training well-received and effective? Look for a vendor that regularly measures results. Look for a vendor that regularly coaches trainers to ensure learner engagement. These things signal their focus on ensuring that learners retain the content.

3. Ensure employee buy-in.

   • Gain supervisory/leadership support of training. 

     Research by Human Resource Development International shows that supervisory support towards outsourced training is the strongest predictor of success. That means that when there is active encouragement by top management, there is increased training participation and commitment. This support also helps employees feel more emotionally committed to your organization — a key secondary benefit of workforce training. No problem, you might be thinking. But in fact, 49% of talent developers agreed that getting managers to prioritize learning was the number one challenge in 2020.

   • Show employees the relevance and usefulness of training. 

     Employees’ perceptions of outsourced training matters. And they need to know the reason they're learning something. Can you tie it to a vertical or lateral career path? Will it help make them more efficient? Promote training programs as a way to improve skills by gaining access to specialized expertise. These two components combined — Supervisory support and usefulness and relevance — explained a 23.2% variance in affective commitment in the same study on training outsourcing. 

   • Keep employees engaged in learning programs. 

     Communicating regularly with employees is a key part of all training, including successfully outsourced training. Turn your training programs into part of a learning culture. Host a kick-off meeting. Make it easy and clear how to participate. Communicate often. Segment your learners. Don’t forget remote employees. Set up rewards and incentives for growth and development. And regularly ask for feedback on the training options you’re providing.

4. Measure, monitor and manage the relationship.

   • Track involvement, time and cost. 

     How many employees are you training? What are their roles? How much time are you spending on training? And what are the costs? This information is the basis for calculating your ROI on not just outsourced training, but any training.

   • Measure employees’ reactions to training. 

     When outsourcing, your training provider should be able to provide metrics on how well the program was received. Was the information helpful to your learners? Was it new information? Was it practical? Motivational? Asking for a net promoter ranking “would I recommend to a friend?” is an important question.

   • Measure learning, application and impact. 

     Improving employees’ overall performance, which boosts your organization’s success, is the focus of training. Have your learners acquired knowledge? A brief before-and-after quiz can help you determine this. Are they applying it? What effect is the new knowledge having? Consider both tangible and intangible impact. Look back at the measurable outcomes you were targeting at the outset.

   • Get the best from your training provider. 

     You and your training provider are jointly responsible for results. They will create and facilitate engaging and transformative learning content. You will lay the groundwork, promote and encourage participation, and track impact. Communicating regularly is critical to forging a strong, lasting relationship.

“Workforce training is an important aspect of keeping people engaged and it’s also a retention tool,” says Markey. “It’s not a luxury, but a way to change outcomes.”

Sometimes you have the bandwidth to handle that internally. Sometimes, outsourcing is the right choice. Making that decision can help you save money and gain expertise. And it’s estimated that over $5 billion is currently spent on training outsourcing. Doing a little up-front legwork to clarify your needs and get employee buy-in will help forge a strong, effective partnership with your training outsourcing organization.