Employee training is widely judged by productivity gains, but new research shows how its real value reshapes the way how employees work, how managers lead and how organisations grow.
For decades now, employee
training has been considered a necessary expense, something which is useful but often questioned during budget reviews by companies. The management often asks similar questions, including whether it is worth the time away from work, whether it delivers measurable results and related concerns.
A recent Harvard Business Review report suggests that these questions often miss a critical part. Training not only improves the way an individual works, but it also reflects changes in how the work flows through an organisation.
The report reveals that when employees are trained better, the managers benefit as well. The managers can gain time and focus, and develop the capacity to showcase strategic leadership. In other words, training pays off twice.
How Does Training Employees Pay Off Twice?
Organisations across industries spend billions every year on training programs. In the US alone, companies invest roughly $1200 per employee annually, according to the 2023 industry report by the Trade Publication Training.
Yet, despite this investment, scepticism persists. Training is often seen as a ‘soft’ initiative, valuable in theory, but extremely difficult to justify in numbers. The report by the Harvard Business Review challenges this assumption by demonstrating that training generates returns in two distinct ways.
The first benefit is visible and widely understood; trained employees work more efficiently. However, the second benefit has long remained hidden; the trained employees free up managers’ time, allowing them to be more productive without working longer hours.
Together, these effects change how organisations should think about the return on investment (ROI) in employee departments.
Source of The Evidence
The findings are based on the detailed study conducted by Harvard Business School professor Christopher T. Stanton and his co-author, Espinosa. The research examined training activities at an unnamed Colombian federal regulatory agency between 2018 and 2019.
The scope of the project was significant, as it involved 655 employees, 526 frontline workers and 129 managers. About 12% of frontline workers were selected to participate in a rigorous training program that spanned 16 weeks or 120 hours in total.
The curriculum combined practical skill building, such as goal setting, Microsoft Excel and effective writing, with in-depth instruction in Colombian legal analysis. This was not surface-level training; it was designed to equip employees with both technical competence and contextual understanding.
To measure its impact, researchers compared goal achievement scores from April to June 2018 (before training) with the same period in 2019. They also analysed internal emails that basically focused on how frontline workers were sending emails to the managers for assistance or help.
The results were striking. Frontline employees who completed the training program achieved roughly 10% more of their goals in the 12 weeks following the program compared with the same period the previous year.
On its own, this productivity boost would already justify attention from business readers. But the study also revealed something more significant.
Increase In The Productivity of Managers
As frontline workers became more capable and confident after the training program, they relied less on their managers or supervisors for guidance. Email data showed a significant drop in help-seeking messages sent to managers. This reduction benefited both employees and managers.
Managers whose teams included trained employees completed 3% more of their strategic goals. Those who worked more closely with trained workers saw a productivity gain of 8%. Crucially, this improvement did not come from managers working harder or longer hours; it came from having fewer distractions.
As Professor Stanton explains in the Harvard Business Review report, “Most people turn to their managers for help when they need something.” By reducing that need, training created a ripple effect that moved upward through the organisational hierarchy.
The researchers calculated that these so-called “spillover effects” accounted for nearly 45% of the total benefits of the training programs. In other words, almost half the value came not from the employees who were trained, but from the managers who suddenly had time to focus on higher-level work.
Rethinking Training ROI
Traditionally, organisations measure training ROI by looking at short-term output or efficiency at the employee level. How fast are tasks completed? Are error rates down? Is productivity up?
The study by the Harvard Business Review suggests that this approach only takes half of the picture in accountability. As one review of the research notes is clear, a 10% increase in frontline productivity through faster completions, shorter cycles, and better execution.
But the hidden multiplier lies in what does not happen: fewer calls, fewer emails, fewer urgent requests for managerial intervention.
From Brittle Systems To Resilient Organisations
The study also highlights how training contributes to organisational resilience. Without the productivity gains at the managerial level, the agency would have needed to train nearly twice as many frontline workers to achieve the same overall output.
Deep and contextual training creates what researchers describe as a more resilient operating model. Employees who understand not just what to do, but why they are doing it, can handle unexpected situations more effectively.
System glitches, sudden demand spikes, or difficult customers become manageable challenges rather than crises that require escalation. In this sense, trained employees act as “self-healing nodes” within the organisation. Instead of breaking under pressure and waiting for instructions, they adapt, decide, and move forward.
Training As A Signal Of Trust
Beyond productivity metrics, training is increasingly seen as essential. Assigning people to some roles without equipping them properly may breed anxiety, burnout and frustration. Over time, this erodes morale and drives attrition.
By contrast, investing in training signals respect and trust. The study found that trained employees were more likely to remain with the organisation over the following three years. They were also about twice as likely to be promoted compared with their untrained peers.
These outcomes also reinforced a virtuous cycle. Employees who feel supported are more engaged. Engaged employees perform better. Better performance reduces managerial strain, allowing leaders to focus on growth rather than firefighting.
Implications In The Age Of AI
When it comes to the timing of these findings, it is considered significant. In the era of AI, it is important to understand how it is reshaping roles across industries, requiring workers at all levels to acquire new skills.
Stanton also argues that scalable training, increasingly supported by AI tools, could lead to flatter organisational structures. “From a leadership perspective, if you double everyone’s skill, do you need as many managers overseeing them?” he asks. “And the answer is almost surely ‘no.’”
This does not diminish the role of the managers; it elevates it. Freed from constant problem-solving, managers can focus on strategy, innovation and long-term direction.
The Quiet Power Of Trained Teams
The key question for organisations is no longer whether they can spare employees for training; it is whether they can afford to keep managers trapped in reactive roles. By constantly solving problems that effective training could have prevented.
This study highlights that efficiency is not just about speed, but also about creating the stillness required for leadership. An organisation cannot think strategically if its leaders are perpetually responding to urgent emails and routine queries.
The Harvard Business Review study reframes training as a structural investment rather than a discretionary perk. This way, employees can gain confidence and career stability, managers gain the freedom to focus on strategy, and organisations gain resilience and long-term performance.
