L'impact de la formation parrainée par l'entreprise sur la productivité (document en anglais)

This article studies the impact of firm-sponsored training on productivity. The data used are taken from the Workplace and Employee Survey (WES) of Statistics Canada (1999¬2002). The impact of training on productivity is measured by estimating a Cobb-Douglas production function, where investment in human capital is treated as a production input. Our methodology is distinguished from that used in earlier studies by the fact that we model the firm's decision to offer training or not as well as the effect of training on productivity, which allows us to take into account the selection bias associated with training decisions. Our results permit us to conclude that training designated as "formal" provides higher productivity gains than training regarded as informal. We note also that failure to account for selection bias results in an overestimation of the effects of formal and informal training on the productivity of firms.

The positive relationship between the level of education of workers, the productivity of labor and the standard of living of a country has been repeatedly highlighted. For cons, the importance of firm-sponsored training as a mechanism of enhancement of skills of workers is unknown.

Currently, this importance is yet magnified by two factors: technological progress, which accelerates the depreciation of knowledge, and the aging of the workforce, which ensures that public policy to improve skills that target workers achieved a share of more of the population.

Thus, most OECD countries subsidize investment in human capital by supporting job training. In Canada, for example, the provincial government provides tax credits to businesses investing in the development of knowledge of their employees. The Quebec government, for its part, adopted in 1995, Bill 90, which requires companies whose annual payroll is greater than a million dollars, to invest 1% of their payroll in training their employees.

Classroom training refers to formal training often given by a person outside the company or department where the employees in training (human resources, for example). Training on the job, for its part, is always given during working hours, and usually by a colleague or supervisor.

More setting is great, the more likely it offers training is high. Indeed, some studies show that nearly half (46%) of small businesses (under 20 employees) does not offer training while over 90% of medium and large enterprises provide training. These results could be explained by the existence of constraints related to funding for training, which would obviously affect more acutely small businesses.

Recent research shows that an employee who received classroom training in the course of the last year is 10% more productive than similar employees not having received. The results show no significant impact of training on the job.

A possible reason for some of this difference is only the classroom training contributes to significantly increase the skill level of employees while expenditures for job training would be part of the normal operating expenses of the company and be among others related to its turnover.

In terms of return on investment, it is called high yields between 50% and 100% of the amounts invested in classroom training.

Of course, the impact of training on business performance can go beyond productivity. But these other impacts are often difficult to quantify. Studies find a significant impact on product quality and customer satisfaction. Also, it is recognized that the process that leads to innovation based on a high level of human capital among workers can be maintained and improved through training. For the other measures, it appears that training employment plays a role as important as the classroom.

A question less studied is the possible complementarities between training practices of the institution and other investments. The presence of complementarities indicates that returns on investment in physical capital such as machinery, equipment and information technology on productivity is higher if the establishment also invests in training its employees simultaneously.

The answer to this question is important for managers

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