Is Your Employee Training Budget a Waste? 6 Common ROI Drains

If you’ve ever signed off on a training budget, you know the sinking feeling: thousands (sometimes millions) spent on programs, platforms, and workshops.

Yet employees still leave, engagement lags, and performance barely moves.

The truth? It’s not that training doesn’t work. It’s that most organizations miss the hidden ROI drains that quietly eat away at their investment.

In fact:

Companies with comprehensive training earn 218% more income per employee than those without it (Forbes).

Yet, 43% of employees say the training they receive is ineffective (HR Dive).

That’s a costly mismatch.

So where’s the disconnect? Let’s dive into the five biggest ROI drains companies don’t see, and how to fix them.

1. Training That’s Irrelevant to the Job

Here’s a stat that should stop every L&D leader in their tracks:

• 55% of workers say they need more training to do their jobs effectively.
• But 38% say the training they get isn’t even relevant to their current role (SHRM).

That’s like giving someone swimming lessons when what they really need is driving practice.

The ROI drain: employees lose motivation, forget what they learned, and fail to apply it. And when training feels disconnected from real work, it becomes “just another HR checkbox.”

How to fix it:

• Run regular skills-gap assessments (74% of HR leaders already say this is critical).
• Align training with immediate role needs, not just “generic leadership” or “time management” sessions.
• Co-create training paths with managers so employees see a direct link between learning and their daily success.

2. Overlooking the Employee Experience of Learning

Companies often obsess over the content of training, but not the experience. And yet:

• 92% of employees say training impacts their engagement positively (Delvin Peck).
• 93% want training that’s easy to complete and understand (HR Dive).
• 89% want training available anywhere, anytime.

If training is boring, confusing, or hard to access, people tune out. Worse, they resent it.

The ROI drain: disengaged learners = wasted investment. You can have the best curriculum in the world, but if it feels like pulling teeth to complete, it won’t land.

How to fix it:

• Swap outdated workshops for simulations, mentoring, and engaging videos, which employees rank highest.
• Offer microlearning at the moment of need (think quick “how-to” guides instead of week-long modules).
• Personalize the journey: 91% of employees want training relevant to their role.

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How to Make Every Training Dollar Count

Most L&D budgets don’t fail because of lack of effort, they fail because the systems behind them can’t keep pace.

Outdated platforms, clunky delivery, and poor tracking quietly drain ROI, even when the intent is there.

That’s where Varsi comes in.

✅ Create engaging courses your team actually wants to take.

✅ Update content on the fly without needing a big production budget.

✅ Use built-in analytics to see what’s working, and what isn’t, so your spend ties back to performance.

✅ Automate the boring parts (reminders, assignments, certifications) so HR and managers get their time back.

Instead of wondering if training is working, you’ll know. Instead of wasted budget, you’ll see impact.

👉 Curious? A quick demo is often enough to prove that better learning tools lead to better results.

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3. Focusing Too Much on Hard Skills, and Missing Soft Skills

Many organizations lean heavily on compliance, technical, or time management training. But there’s a gap:

• 61% of employers provide time management training, yet only 42% of employees want it.
• On the flip side, 54% of employees want leadership training, but not every organization provides it (SHRM/TalentLMS).

The ROI drain: by prioritizing the wrong skills, companies build efficiency but not adaptability. Employees still leave because they don’t see career growth.

How to fix it:

• Shift focus toward leadership, collaboration, and communication skills, the very areas employees crave.
• Build pathways that don’t just check compliance boxes but prepare employees for internal mobility (and remember: employees at companies with strong internal mobility stay 2x longer).

4. Treating Training as an Expense, Not an Investment

This one comes straight from HR managers themselves:

• 54% say leadership doesn’t see L&D as an investment.
• 52% encounter resistance to training budgets.

Meanwhile, the average spend per employee ranges between $501 and $3,000, but if training isn’t tied to measurable outcomes, that money might as well be tossed into the wind.

The ROI drain: underfunding or underselling training reduces it to a “nice-to-have,” instead of the business growth engine it is.

How to fix it:

• Track training ROI against KPIs (productivity, retention, engagement).
• Share stats executives can’t ignore: training boosts productivity by 17%, profit margins by 24%, and retention by up to 94% when development opportunities are present.
• Frame training as a talent strategy, not just a line item.

5. Ignoring Retention as the Ultimate ROI

The biggest hidden cost of weak training? Turnover.

• 45% of employees say they’re more likely to stay if they get training.
• Over 90% say they won’t quit if they have development opportunities (LinkedIn).
• 76% of employees are more likely to stay with a company that offers continuous training (SHRM).

That’s a staggering retention lever, and yet many organizations still treat training as “optional.”

The ROI drain: losing employees because you didn’t invest in them. Recruiting replacements costs far more than the training ever would.

How to fix it:

• Position training as part of the employee journey, not a one-off event.
• Celebrate employees who achieve certifications or milestones.
• Consider perks like personal learning stipends to encourage growth beyond the workplace.

6. Failing to Modernize Content

Research shows that 32% of HR managers struggle with keeping training content up to date. In fast-moving industries, yesterday’s best practice can quickly become irrelevant, and employees notice when training feels dated.

The ROI Drain: When content doesn’t reflect real tools, current challenges, or evolving skills, employees disengage. They either rush through training without retaining anything, or worse, see it as proof their company is out of touch. That’s wasted budget on programs no one values.

How to Fix It:

• Run content audits every quarter to identify outdated modules.
• Adopt microlearning formats that make updating easier and faster.
• Leverage AI-driven tools to refresh examples, scenarios, and quizzes at scale.
• Close the loop with feedback by surveying employees on what feels useful and what feels stale.

When training content evolves alongside the business, employees not only engage, they actually apply what they learn, turning budget into measurable results.