Investing in employee training and professional development is not just a ‘nice to have’, it's essential. For Western Australian businesses navigating economic shifts, skills shortages, and evolving compliance landscapes, training can drive productivity, retention, and innovation.
However, not all training is created equal. Many companies across WA are spending thousands, and sometimes millions, on development programs that fail to deliver real results. If your training strategy lacks precision, alignment, or measurable outcomes, you're likely wasting valuable resources.
Here are three key ways organisations waste money on training, and how to turn that waste into strategic investment.
1. Training without a strategic purpose
Too often, training is delivered reactively; a knee-jerk response to compliance requirements, industry trends, or employee requests. While the intention might be good, without a clear link to your business strategy, the return on training investment is minimal.
For example, sending staff to generic leadership programs or offering online learning libraries without tailoring to your workforce needs results in poor engagement, low completion rates, and negligible behavioural change. According to a report by Deloitte, only 10% of learning and development spending actually improves performance, often due to a lack of alignment with organisational goals.
What to do instead:
- Conduct a training needs analysis (TNA) to identify specific skills gaps. Quality training providers can advise you on how to do this for your organisation.
- Align all learning initiatives with business objectives, whether that's improving safety performance, boosting customer service, or developing future leaders.
- Choose providers who specialise in, or can customise content and delivery to your industry, business size, and regional context, particularly important in WA’s diverse sectors like mining, agriculture, health, and construction.
2. One-size-fits-all training delivery
From Broome to Busselton, WA’s workforce is as varied as its geography. But many organisations still use one-size-fits-all training approaches that ignore the different roles, learning styles, literacy levels, and cultural backgrounds of their employees.
Whether it’s forcing workers to sit through irrelevant modules or using eLearning programs with little interactivity or context, this approach leads to disengagement and poor retention of information. The outcome? Wasted time, low application on the job, and reduced productivity.
What to do instead:
- Invest in targeted, role-specific training that speaks the language of your teams.
- Incorporate adult learning principles: relevance, participation, and practical application.
- Offer flexible delivery models such as blended learning, on-site workshops, or stackable learning to suit FIFO workers, part-time staff, or regional teams.
Well-designed, contextualised training improves not just engagement but performance. A 2022 study by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) found that customised or targeted training has up to 40% higher impact on workplace behaviour than generic alternatives.
3. Failing to measure impact or ROI
You wouldn't invest in new technology without tracking its effectiveness, yet many companies spend heavily on training with no mechanisms to measure whether it worked. Without evaluation, how can you know if the training changed behaviours, improved outcomes, or was worth the investment?
Even worse, if poor-quality training leads to non-compliance or safety incidents, the costs can be catastrophic, especially under WA’s Work Health and Safety Act 2020, which places significant obligations on businesses to ensure training is effective and ongoing.
What to do instead:
- Set clear, measurable learning outcomes before training begins.
- Use pre- and post-training assessments, surveys, and performance metrics to evaluate impact.
- Partner with providers who report on learning outcomes and offer follow-up support to embed skills and track progress.
- Investing in ongoing development, not just one-off sessions, will maximise ROI and demonstrate to your workforce that you’re serious about their growth - a powerful retention and engagement tool.
The bottom line: make training a smart investment
Western Australian organisations face unique challenges - regional workforce access, industry-specific compliance requirements, and increasing pressure to innovate while maintaining productivity.
The solution isn’t to cut training; it’s to invest smarter.
When you:
- align training to strategy,
- tailor delivery to your people,
- and measure the impact,
…you transform training from a cost centre into a competitive advantage.
Whether you’re a mid-sized business in Rockingham or a mining giant in the Pilbara, the key is choosing a quality training provider who understands your needs and delivers targeted, results-driven development.
Avoid wasting money on poorly planned, irrelevant training. Instead, build a workforce that’s skilled, safe, and strategically aligned and ready to help your business Achieve More.
Want to get more value from your training investment?
Partner with a trusted provider who delivers customised, practical learning that leads to real workplace outcomes. It’s time to stop ticking boxes and start developing your people with purpose.
Aveling is a Registered Training Organisation that has been providing quality professional development and training in WA for almost 30 years. Offering classroom, online and on-site training as well as consulting and custom course development, Aveling can help you meet your business objectives through people development.
If you would like to see how Aveling can help you and your business Achieve More, visit:
