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Training ROI Calculator

Two ways to model the return on training. Classic courses trade hours of seat time for an estimated lift. Micro-learning trades a few minutes a day for a proficiency score you actually measured. Nothing is stored — the numbers stay in your browser.

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Two different ROI processes

Classic: people leave their work for a number of hours, and you estimate afterwards how much better they got. The estimate is the weakest part of the model.

Micro-learning: people answer a handful of questions for three to eight minutes each workday. Proficiency is measured on every interaction, so the gain in the ROI model is a measurement, not a guess.

Your program

Number of people taking part in the program

Time each participant spends practising on a practice day — typically three to eight minutes

Micro-learning objects answered per session; also drives platform cost

Workdays per week on which participants practise

How long the program runs

$

Average total cost per hour for a participant — salary plus employer costs

Measured score at the start, 0-100

Measured score at the end, 0-100

$

Revenue, margin or produced value one participant is responsible for in a year

How much of that output depends on knowing this material. A sales rep's product knowledge might drive 30% of their result; the rest is territory, pricing and demand

Results

Practice hours per participant

Minutes per day x practice days per week x weeks

5
Participant time cost

Practice hours x loaded hourly cost x participants

$5,625
Platform cost

Answers submitted at $0.10 each, plus a one-time $20 to convert your existing content into questions

$1,220
Total cost of learning and assessment

Participant time cost plus platform cost, across the whole program

$6,845
Cost per participant

Total cost divided by participants

$274
Cost per practice hour

Total cost divided by all practice hours

$55
Measured proficiency gain

Achieved score minus baseline score, in points

30 pts
Estimated annual value

The share of output or avoided incidents unlocked by the measured gain

$150,000
Net return, first year

Annual value minus total cost

$143,155
ROI

Net return as a percentage of total cost

2,091%
Payback period

How long the value takes to cover the cost

0.5 months
Value per proficiency point

Annual value divided by the points gained — what one measured point is worth to you

$5,000

This calculator is an estimate, not a valuation. It runs entirely in your browser: no data is transmitted, stored, or associated with you.

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The assumptions behind the number

  • Proficiency in and out are measured scores from assessments, not self-reported estimates. The gain is the difference between two measurements taken the same way.
  • There is no separate retention discount. With spaced repetition the later questions are themselves the retest, so the measured end score is already the retained score.
  • Value scales linearly with the proficiency gain: going from 40 to 60 captures twice as much as going from 40 to 50.
  • Platform cost is calculated from usage — $0.10 per answer submitted plus a one-time $20 to convert existing material into questions — rather than entered as a lump sum.
  • Only first-year value is counted, and participant time is priced at its loaded cost because finance will price it that way regardless.

How to get honest inputs

  1. Take the baseline from the first pass through the question set, before any teaching, and do not reveal the answers.
  2. Take the achieved score from the same competency after the program has run. Both numbers come out of the platform; you do not have to estimate either one.
  3. Derive annual output or incident cost from a metric the business already tracks — closed revenue, rework hours, deviation reports — not from a benchmark you found online.
  4. Set the attribution share deliberately and low. It is the only judgement call left in the model, and a conservative figure survives scrutiny.

Side by side

Micro-learning with measured proficiencyClassic course training
Hours per participant56
Cost per participant$274$430

Both columns use the inputs you entered in each mode.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good training ROI?

There is no universal benchmark, because the number depends entirely on how honestly you estimate the value side. As a rule of thumb: if a programme cannot plausibly return more than it costs within twelve months under conservative assumptions — low attribution, realistic retention — it is hard to justify. Programmes that measure proficiency before and after (rather than assuming a lift) can defend much lower ROIs, because the value figure is observed rather than hoped for.

How do I estimate the value side without fooling myself?

Anchor value to something the business already counts: output per employee, error or incident cost, escalation rate, or ramp time. Then apply an attribution percentage — the share of that value training can honestly claim — and keep it low (5–15%) unless you have before-and-after measurements. A model with modest, defensible inputs beats an impressive number nobody believes.

Why does the micro-learning model use a measured proficiency score?

Because assumed lift is where most ROI calculations go wrong. Classic models guess a percentage improvement and a retention rate. A measured baseline and target replace both guesses with numbers you can verify — and if the score does not move, you find out in week two instead of after the budget is spent.

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