In 2015, U.S. organizations spent approximately $70 billion on training. Smaller companies spent around $1,105 per employee on average, not taking into account the productivity lost while the employee was out. Larger companies often doubled this investment. Clearly employers understand the importance of training, and are willing to devote resources to it; however, it's rare that these organizations see a return on their investment. According to a survey released by McKinsey & Co., only 25 percent of respondents thought that their training programs improved their employees' performance. So before committing time and money to training, it’s prudent to ensure a training program will be worth it. First, it's important to ask if the employee is ready to be trained. If a manager has to push the employee, that should be a red flag. The employee should be the one driving the training, so don’t waste money on someone that isn’t interested. Another important question to answer is when the employee’s new knowledge will be put to use. Newly acquired skills and knowledge will be lost if they aren’t put into action soon after the training period is complete, so if training isn’t delivered in a timely fashion, it can be a tremendous waste of time.