The value of using freelance trainers if you are a small or medium sized business is pretty clear but what if you are a Training or HR Manager for a larger business. Does it make sense to engage freelance trainers directly rather than sourcing via a corporate training provider?

The answer to this question revolves around three central points.

1. How much value do you place on the services offered by corporate training providers?
2. How far do you need your training budget to stretch?
3. What is your internal structure?

Let’s take a closer look at each of these.

How much value do you place on the services offered by corporate training providers?
Apart from sourcing a number of trainers to design and deliver your programmes, corporate providers often offer a number of additional services – some will be chargeable and others part of the service. These services might include:

Training Administration – sending joining instructions to delegates, managing attendance records etc.

Account Management – helping to identify your training needs, organising dates and trainers around these needs and dealing with issues/problems as they arise.

Central Co-ordination – if you are running a large volume of courses, these need to be matched with relevant trainers, the confirmation process co-ordinated and usually, a single monthly invoice.

If you are a larger business running a significant number of courses in a variety of locations, these services are undoubtedly valuable. But are they worth 50% of your training budget?

How far do you want your training budget to stretch?
If your training budget is under pressure, you can reduce your spend but maintain the level of training by engaging freelance trainers directly. Let’s look at a quick worked example:

Current Spend - £150k (100 days @£1500 per day)
Made up of:
Cost of Trainers - £75k
Cost of administration and account management services - £75k

By engaging high calibre freelance trainers directly and appointing an administration co-ordinator on a salary of say £20k, you can reduce the training budget by £55k without reducing the level of training.

This is a pretty useful concept at the best of times but even more so in a tough economic environment.

What is your internal structure?
If you are running in excess of 100 days training per year, the chances are that you will need to employ an extra administrative resource to replace the services of a corporate provider and you will also need to ensure you have good processes and record keeping in place. But we live in an age when much of this can be automated after the initial set-up.

There might also the issue of whether training budgets are held centrally or devolved to individual business units.

OK, so you have decided to go ahead and use freelance trainers directly rather than engage them via a corporate training provider, what next?

Apart from setting up the relevant administrative processes, the main task is to ensure you have a pool of relevant, high calibre freelance trainers. Subject expertise and geographic location will be key selection criteria but additionally, it might be wise to run an assessment centre to ensure you are engaging the trainers who are most suited to the culture and needs of your organisation. This might include a delivery episode, an interview, a coaching session or even a teamworking task to test for relevant skills and traits.

But above all, once you have selected a pool of freelance trainers, the key is to work in partnership with them to make them an extension of your own company. Consider running an induction session and ongoing review workshops. Keep them informed of your needs and discuss feedback with them on a regular basis. Invite and listen to their ideas for improvement.

Treat them as a partner rather than a supplier and you are likely to end up with a talented and highly motivated resource pool that will deliver a service quality at least equal to and often better than you had previously – at a significantly lower cost.

Does it make sense to engage freelance trainers directly rather than sourcing via a corporate training provider?
If you decide the answer is yes, feel free to contact us for additional guidance or simply go ahead and contact trainers directly from our site listings.