Manufacturing people tell us that they typically expect a 25-30% annual return on capital equipment over the life of the asset in order to justify its purchase. The good news about investing in a machine is that its return is fairly predictable. That's because a piece of equipment is designed to perform certain functions in certain ways, no more - no less. But that's also the bad news about the machine; it is not capable of extending its performance through creativity, conceptualization, innovation, synergy, independent thought and subsequent learning like a human being is.

If we spent that $15,000 we were just talking about on a machine with an expected life of 10 years, at 25% return, it should break even in four years, then add about $22,500 in value over its remaining life. Sure, that's a bit of an oversimplification (we're not accounting here for depreciation, maintenance, etc.), but  the point is : 

How much more should we expect from investing in people - you - who are capable of vastly extending what you learn through conscientious application and subsequent experience?

Some companies have gone to great lengths to evaluate the benefit they receive from training, and have reported as much as 3000% return on their training investment. Let's be comparatively conservative, though. Let's say your company has 500 employees and you get just an average 300% payback in added value annually on your $7.5 million people investment (using the example from the previous page). Take out the $7.5 million cost of training, and that would net $15 million in added value - increased sales, lower costs, increased productivity, etc.

Are you getting it? More importantly, are you returning 300% on the investment made in you? 500%? 200%? Or are you costing your employer precious dollars by not fully using and expanding on what you learn in the training and education experiences which are provided for you? If you suspect you might not be significantly returning on the investment, click the Continue button to see if the following reasoning fits you. And if it does, even a little, continue on for some easy to implement ideas on how to maximize your employer's investment in YOU!