Would you donate money to a charity that spent half of all contributions on administrative overhead? How would a business manager react if he or she knew that only half of the unit's training budget was spent on actual employee training?

Our recent survey on training administration confirmed that most companies are spending way too much on training administration and operations. Forty percent of survey respondents said their companies spend 20 to 50% of training budgets on administrative-related expenses.

Furthermore, as corporate training takes a more strategic role in the enterprise, administrative costs typically increase. Approximately 60% of respondents see spending on administration and operations increasing over the next two years.

Respondents cited heavy workloads (57%), inadequate technical support (47%), limited budgets (40%), and lack of qualified personnel (40%) as the top administrative challenges.

We see these administrative problems - and many others - in companies we've worked with. But, solutions are not found by further increasing spending. Rather, we've found that most companies can dramatically improve administrative efficiency while actually reducing spending.

The first step is to really understand your operational processes. This requires objectivity, careful scrutiny, extensive communications, and broad training experience. It also involves going into deep detail and analyzing findings to determine what's working and what's not. This investigation is essential to understanding what can be improved and how to make necessary changes.

At Expertus, we've cataloged the 11 major processes that comprise most of what's involved in training administration. This documentation expedites process analysis and also ensures that no processes are overlooked.

If you're looking for a way to deliver more training value within your current budget, we highly recommend taking a close look at administrative-related expenses. By improving administrative efficiencies, you'll have more dollars and resources to invest in training programs and you'll likely increase your organization's credibility throughout the enterprise.

If you have a question about what it takes to streamline training operations, or if you'd like to discuss how Expertus can potentially help you reduce your administrative overhead, contact me.