Issue 30 - October 2009

Greetings from abdi
abdi ltd has a depth of experience unique in the UK in impact measurement and ROI studies to assess investment in human capital. abdi ltd undertakes external evaluations and trains key individuals in private and public sector organisations to measure return on investment in HR interventions of all sorts including learning and development, change programmes and international assignments. Check out our website www.abdi.eu.com

• Why we need to know full costs 
  
• abdi ROI courses for 2010
• Congratulations to those who successfully submitted their abdi ROI Edexcel Foundation accreditation submissions in August
• Will HR disappear as a separate function?  
  
• Fitness shows up for work
  
• abdi/FSSC scholar
• Building a library 
• 'Marvellous course and just what I needed'........ 'A transforming experience - two comments from recent abdi ROI Foundation course students
  

Whatever the level of public sector cuts, human capital investment will figure.

Policymakers determined to spare what delivers most value and impact will generally start with a fatal handicap: ignorance of the true cost of their targets.

Most private and public managers track direct costs - trainers, materials, rooms, meals.  Few know the full indirects (trainee salaries, backfill, development costs), often, in our experience, 50% - 70% of the total.

This discipline of identifying full costs provides one half of the right data on which to make the investment decision in the first place (the other is of course clarity about outcome improvements to be achieved).

A full cost model enables planners to forecast accurately as well as to monitor and calculate the real costs of projects. Message to strategists: to ensure your investments are going to deliver value, you MUST establish true FULL costs.

We've just announced our main courses dates for 2010. Booking is now open on www.abdi.eu.com

Abdi ROI Foundation courses (2 day)
8,9 March
21,22 June
20,21 September
15,16 November

Abdi ROI evaluator courses (3 day) taught by Jane Massy
7,8.9 June
17,18,19 November

If Cambridge is difficult for you to get to but you'd like to attend a Foundation course in another part of the country, get in touch and tell us who and where you are.

We're expanding ROI training in 2009/2010 - we'd like to come to where you are.


Congratulations to those who successfully submitted their abdi ROI Edexcel Foundation accreditation submissions in August

Simon Holmes - Learning and Development Manager, Sheffield Children’s NHS Trust
Barbara Henderson - National NVQ/Lifelong Learning Manager, NHS Blood and Transplant
Lesley Emerson - Learning and Development Manager, City Health Care Partnership, Hull


Will HR disappear as a separate function?  

A debate in Human Resources (29 September 2009 - we picked it up off the Web) - illustrates the divergence of views around and the somewhat febrile nature of the discussion.  It has been stimulated by a Deloitte report which states that HR must either evolve or risk being dissolved within the business. The consensus? There isn't one yet. At one extreme there are fans of the idea that HR should be outsourced en masse. Others claim that the current economic crisis offers HR a huge opportunity to show value in dealing with downsizing and preparing for the bounce-back.  In the middle, even defenders of the HR function seem to acknowledge that it hasn't been the best at demonstrating the value of what it does. Our answer? Arm HR professionals with ROI capability and enable them to plan better, espouse continuous improvement and show value.


Fitness shows up for work

Just caught up with a claim from Hewitt Associates, discussing ways of reducing absenteeism through better health management, that employee well-being schemes like gym membership and healthy eating programmes see a return on investment of £3 for every £1 spent - a healthy 200% ROI if the £1 is a true net cost.  Absenteeism - especially unreported absenteeism - is a huge cost to employers.  Effective means of reducing it are gold dust and may show far more impressive ROIs than many suppose. We've no idea how solid the Hewitt data is, but we'd very much like to hear from anyone else doing solid evaluation on the same issue.


abdi/FSSC scholar


Julie Pardy of Worksmart Solutions, with Jeremy Harrison, abdi director, at the September ROI Foundation Course she attended at the Moeller Centre, Churchill College.

Building a library

Benefit Realisation Management, Gerald Bradley, Gower 2006
It's always good to be able to point the way to good resource books that support the ROI Methodology.  Gerald Bradley provides a good deal of serious material and a number of data collection tools that can be used very effectively by ROI practitioners.  Despite the fact that there are places where - for us at least - he presents models of benefit tracking that seem rather complicated for many managers and stakeholders to use effectively, there is a great deal else that is a great help in focussing thought.  Good explanations and discussions of measures and metrics can sharpen up evaluation planning. Some good stuff on identifying and classifying stakeholders can contribute to ROI planning and reporting. There are useful insights into project managing change, and a brief but useful introductory section on the increasingly important issue of risk. Plenty more too - culminating in an extensive and well-produced glossary.

One good, simple quote that speaks to the very heart of ROI's sharp focus on identifying organisational needs whilst engaging all those with clear interests in the success of an objective: 'A good measure meets the needs of relevant stakeholders'.


'Marvellous course and just what I needed'....... 'A transforming experience'
- two comments from recent abdi ROI Foundation course students

The autumn courses began on 21 and 22 September. We're now in an intensive period of in-house courses delivered for major clients.

The next public opportunity to attend a public Foundation is on 16 and 17 November. Still time to enrol!

If you've already got the Foundation Certificate - go to the next level.
 
The autumn ROI Evaluator Course, taught by world-class ROI expert Jane Massy is on 18, 19 and 20 November.

Both courses will be in Cambridge. To secure a place, or for any other enquiries about our services, go to www.abdi.eu.com or call 01223 360 240.


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