When hiring starts again after a recession, workers often need a new skill mix. If so, it's the trainer's job to make sure employees--both current and those being hired--have those skills. Now that it's time to consider hiring again, some new complications emerge. After layoffs, remaining workers likely took on more tasks and learned new skills.…

Questions to consider before marketing in-house training externally include (1) balancing internal and external clients, accounting for costs, being concerned about proprietary information, finding the right niche, and determining whether profitability is a goal. (SK)

Empirical evidence of training's effect on turnover is limited. Often training is combined with other organizational changes, making it difficult to measure. Training is part of the whole organizational environment that must be considered when attempting to combat turnover. (SK)

Since the early 1980s, several unions have negotiated for training and education funds paid for by the employer and administered jointly by the union and the company. However, the link between lifelong learning and productivity is more a matter of belief than a proven fact. (JOW)