Layoffs and Training Departments

Sorry gang, as someone who spent many years in Training Departments, I gotta tell you that they really don't mean anything. Companies have them for two primary reasons, with the first being a recruiting tool. No company that wants to get good workers will NOT have a training department of some kind, as no one would want to go to work for a company that isn't interested in increasing the abilities of their employees. This fallacy is fairly obvious when you look at how a majority of courses are used, or rather not used, by companies. Many people attend, but how many have supervisors or managers back on the job who have a clue as to what that person just learned, or is anywhere near ready to take advantage of those new skills? Sorry - there's no transition from classroom to office in most instances. (Just ask how many companies run an ROI on their training....)

The second reason is it's a good place to begin letting people go to trim your salary expenses. Training is very easy to outsource, and even easier to replace with the new elearning rapture that companies are finding. The problem with elearning is the same as with the traditional live classroom experience - very little or no support from immediate supervisors when back on the job.

The exception to the rule of no support? Easy, that's when the skills being taught are things that are either required by law, or are static skills like statistical analysis - but nothing related to interpersonal skills. The reason why interpersonal skills aren't supported back on the job? Oh come on - do you really need for me to answer that one?