7 Responses

1. Ratio of trainer to population for design issues

   For general issues easy to communicate and grasp, the ratio we have capped out at has been 18:1.  There has been a lot of research in the education field to show that going over this ratio has diminishing returns in training efficiencies.  There is some leeway.  Depending on how technical the subject matter is, the number of questions expected and the level of difficulty of the material,  the range we use is 4:1 for highly technical and difficult material  and to 18:1 for more generalized training.  Hope this is what you were looking for.

   Cordially, Michael Calhoun | consulting

2. Confused …

   I’ve interpreted your question differently from Michael.

   I thought you meant ratio of trainers to numbers in workforce. Can you clarify, please?

   Paul

3. Trainers to population

    

   Currently I am the only perosn delivering soft skills nad management development training so teh ratio is 1: 4000.

   We have decided to train folks in the buisness to deliver soft skills training and once these business trainers have been launched (there

   are 140 of them) the ratio will change to 1:29.

   Cheers.

   Nick

4. Clarification

   Hi Paul

   Yes you’ve got it – ratio of trainers to workforce is what i’m looking for.

   Thanks

   Mark

5. trainer ration

   While you can generalise on a generic ratio, this can only be a general figure! Populations

   within the populations eg sales, customer service, could need different ratios. Types of training eg knowledge,

   and skills,could need different rations as could different types of delivery method, eg face to face, online. In addition

   the geographic spread of the organisationetc could impact, eg regional traners.

   So you probably need to drop a level to get true working ratios.

    

   Steve

6. Ratio of trainers to workforce

   We are mainly a manufacturing company and have a minimum ratio of one externally "trained trainer" to every eight employees.  These trainers are then used to deliver on the job training only. 

   Any formal training courses are delivered by outside providers, or myself as HR Manager.

   I have a medium term aim for Managers and Technical Experts to be in a position to deliver "best practice" drop in sessions for e.g. excel training where we can all learn from each other as a top up to any formal externally delivered training and thereby maximise the synergy within the business.

   I hope this helps.

   Hazel.

7. Ratio of trainers to employees

   Mark

   There isn’t an accepted benchmark figure. The number of trainers you have should be based on the number you need and can afford. This will vary with things like volatility (how fast things change in your organisation/industry), turnover (between roles not just new starters), the complexity of learning in your context (do most people have jobs that can be learnt quickly and easily or do they have jobs that require long and intensive development), the amount you buy in (the more you buy, the fewer in-house trainers required), the level you recruit at (eg recruiting qualified professionals), legal issues such as safety, technology issues such as is your company big enough to invest in elearning, cultural issues such as can the line managers/coaches do more, economic issues such as can you afford to invest/can you afford not to invest in people, and senior management issues such as are they committed to learning and see internal training as adding value. I’m sure there are more.

   All that said, the recent Bersin survey show an average ratio of 7.1 trainers to 1000 staff. But remember that is just an average, the range is very large.

   You might also want to take a look at:

   https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/item/22663

   Hope that helps

   Graham O’Connell