Companies are increasingly looking for training options they can fit into their employees' already busy schedules. Going away for three days is no longer an option. Some consulting services have seen a rise in requests for "lunch 'a' learn" sessions, especially with higher level executives. One company offers voluntary brown bag sessions that cover topics like 401(k) plans or college funding.

The challenge when condensing training is to maintain quality. Focusing on a single subject in short sessions allows the employee to go back and practice what he or she learned. With multi-day sessions, employees are often overwhelmed with the amount of information, and retention is low. The "one way information dump" should be avoided no matter how long the training session. Much of the information that had been disseminated via lecture can be delivered by the Internet or other technology. Face-to-face time should be reserved for meaningful, rich interaction between employees.

Technology can also replace the three-ring binders that employees used to receive at training sessions. "Webinars" have also been growing in popularity because they are convenient and offer the chance for interaction with others.