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People dropping out and rates of attendance is the blight of the in-house training team or trainer. This is a continuing and constant theme amongst HR staff. Yet this problem can be beaten - I myself have done so.

Here are just a few of the reasons behind poor attendance:

• People are all too often busy and therefore time set aside for training can be tempting
• There are usually no penalties for people pulling out and no incentives for attendance
• Low management commitment/traction towards the training

Training courses are all too often development planning oriented rather than need orientated. This happens when managers and individuals use a list of courses as part of the annual performance review and training needs analysis and simply pick out some that sound applicable. A stronger and more helpful approach would be to identify the training requirements from a non-course perspective and add a course as a secondary option, if this is absolutely necessary.

In many workplaces it’s far too easy to simply ’sign up’ for any kind of training being offered and this can result in a low appreciation of the chance given. Where employee portals exist that allow direct enrollment effort and time should be put in to getting this correct and improving the personal responsibility of the worker.

Here are some potential solutions on a practical level that will aid investment in peoples ongoing development. Assuming that the training courses are of the right stature and quality of course.

1.Increase the barrier to signing up. An example of this would be to introduce the idea that all applications must be accompanied by a more ‘business case’ which requires input from the manager and takes time and thus only the motivated learner and supportive manager will book a course. Also people will be more likely to attend having made this up front investment. To further strengthen this process, ask the training candidates to do a certain amount of e-learning and reading before the course, or even better, application process, which will also ensure commitment (plus reduce the length of the training). If you went to an external course this is what would happen so why should an internally run course not have equal status?

2.Create a disincentive such as a penalty system if somebody fails to turn up. If the charge made for non attendance is sufficient it will force a manager to think again about pulling someone off at the last minute or allowing someone to cancel. If courses are free there’s no reason a system like this should not be in place. When I managed a large HR function I operated this system for years, it turned out that the few last minute cancellations ended up paying for everybody else on the course. If departments already have to pay for training they certainly should be charged for not turning up - this is what external organisations do - and you could also operate a three strikes and you’re out type of system, i.e. not allowing a person who has this record of cancellation attend any more training courses for an agreed period of time. A year or eighteen months would be a good example.

3.Keeping a waiting list for courses with people who want to attend but cannot get on, use these names to fill last minute spaces, this will increase demand and you’ll never run a training course at less than 100% attendance. Unless of course somebody is taken ill on the day of the course which does not happen too often but does explain the title of this article being 99%. A waiting list will also persuade people that your course really is worth attending. Your ’substitute’ can hold the dates for costly and high profile courses and if this is somebody that gets on the course twelve months early chances are that they will.

4.Training can also be positioned as a reward. Managerial support will be required but this will move the company to a philosophy where development opportunities are seen as recognition for outstanding contribution rather than being seen as available only for remedial purposes or something that everyone has a right to. If the opportunity is positioned as a reward by their manager people are more likely to turn up. Training and development is not a right but rather a benefit and should be positioned this way within the company. ‘Total compensation’ - which is pretty much telling people what their whole benefits package encompasses so they appreciate it more - is the way things have moved and access to development and training should be positioned as an important feature within this structure.