Why Employee Training Pays Off for Companies Twice

January 12, 2026. Opinion: "Training programs don't just help the employees who take them. They free up managers, too, says research by Christopher Stanton. Business leaders may question whether training programs are worth the cost and time. Yet evidence from a 16-week program shows that upskilling boosts not just employees’ productivity, but the output of their managers, too. Frontline employees at a Colombian government agency completed 10% more work in the 12 weeks following a targeted training program compared with the year-earlier period. Plus, employees sent fewer emails seeking help from managers, freeing supervisors to complete more work themselves.

Beyond improving worker retention and productivity, the hidden value of training lies in how it unlocks managers’ time to focus on strategic work, says Harvard Business School Professor Christopher T. Stanton, one of the study’s coauthors. In this case, the extra time managers gained back amounted to nearly half of the total benefits of the training program.Since previous research demonstrated that “most people turn to their managers for help when they need something,” rather than seek assistance from coworkers, Stanton says he was curious to explore whether training could ultimately save everyone time, making the programs more valuable than many business leaders may realize."