I need hard data on the benefits of employee development, employee training programs, human capital investment

Surveys, reports, graphs, etc. would be most helpful, to be used for a paper on the benefits and ROI of employee training programs this paper must include all my resources. I can find general information at SHRM and ASTD about increased loyalty and retention. I'm trying to find information that shows the $$ relationship to increased productivity, retention, etc. Specific reference and reports would be most helpful.

The consultants Watson & Wyatt conducted a fairly comprehensive study a few years ago to provide exactly that information. The final report was called the Human Capital Index (HCI). Its purpose was to demonstrate statistical correlations between shareholder value and certain human resource practices. Watson Wyatt also produced a study called WorkUSA 2000, that demonstrates a statistical correlation between various areas of employee satisfaction and the corresponding increase in market/shareholder value associated with them. Two of the authors of the above studies, Bruce Fau and Ira Kay, also summarized the finding in an excellent book called "The Human Capital Edge."

This is hard data, rather than ruminations on how treating people well, etc will pay off. The book correlates certain HR practices (e.g. "Employees have input on hiring decisions + .5%" and "Pay is linked to company business strategy + 1.2%") with the percent increase in market/shareholder value associated with that practice. I believe you can get a fuller breakdown of the numbers from the HCI.

If you're looking for hard ROI data, I haven't seen anything better than this. And there are some real surprises, such as employee access to training being correlated with a 5.6% DECREASE in market/shareholder value (the authors discuss possible reasons for this counterintuitive result).