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Training Request Form Template

Ad-hoc training requests via Slack or email get lost, approved inconsistently, or never budgeted for. This training request form gives employees a structured way to make the case for professional development — and gives managers everything they need to approve or decline in one place.

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Free for non-commercial projects, with unlimited forms and responses.

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The starting point

About this template

Professional development requests handled informally create real problems: inconsistent approvals, budget surprises, and employees who feel their growth isn't taken seriously because nobody followed up on a Slack message. A training request form standardizes the process — employees make a structured case for the investment, managers have the information they need to decide, and HR has a record of what's been approved and spent.

More about this template

The most important fields on this form are the justification questions. 'How does this relate to your current role?' and 'What outcomes do you expect?' aren't bureaucratic hurdles — they're prompts that help employees think clearly about why they want the training, which produces better professional development decisions and better conversations with managers. An employee who can articulate the expected impact of a training course is more likely to actually apply what they learn.

This form fits naturally into any company's learning and development workflow. HR gets an organized record of every request — filterable by department, training type, and cost — which makes quarterly L&D budget reviews dramatically easier. formformform's instant email notifications mean no request gets lost in someone's inbox.

12 fields to make your own8 required in this starting form

Make it fit your workflow.

Use your own copy to change labels, remove questions and add the details you need. Try the preview alongside this guide to see what respondents will be asked.

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The questions, explained

Fields in this template

Review the starting questions and choices. You can change them in your own copy.

  • Short answerRequired

    Full Name

    Jane Smith

  • Email addressRequired

    Work Email

    jane@company.com

  • Short answerRequired

    Department

    Marketing

  • Short answerRequired

    Manager Name

    John Doe

  • Short answerRequired

    Training or Course Name

    Advanced Excel for Business Analysts

  • Short answerRequired

    Training Provider or Institution

    Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, local university, etc.

  • Single choiceRequired

    Training Format

    5 choices
    • Online / Self-paced
    • Online / Instructor-led
    • In-person workshop
    • Conference or event
    • Certification program
  • DateOptional

    Requested Training Date or Start Date

  • Short answerOptional

    Estimated Duration

    e.g., 2 days, 6 weeks, 40 hours

  • Short answerOptional

    Estimated Cost

    e.g., $299, $1,200 + travel

  • Long answerRequired

    How does this training relate to your current role or career goals?

    Explain how the skills or knowledge gained will benefit your work and the team.

  • Long answerOptional

    What outcomes do you expect from this training?

    What will you be able to do after completing it that you can't do now?

Where it fits

Who uses this template

Suggested uses, and why this starting point can help. Adapt the questions to your own process.

HR managers and L&D teams

Replace scattered requests with a consistent starting point. The answers help you understand the work, identify gaps and prepare a follow-up. Review “Department” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.

Operations managers

Replace scattered requests with a consistent starting point. The answers help you understand the work, identify gaps and prepare a follow-up. Review “Training Provider or Institution” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.

Small business owners

Turn initial interest into information you can review. Use the answers to prepare a relevant follow-up and decide whether the opportunity fits your work. Review “Training Format” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.

Department heads

Use this as a starting point when you need the same essential information from each person. Review the questions against your process before sharing your copy. Review “Requested Training Date or Start Date” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.

Finance teams managing training budgets

Collect the details needed to review a request consistently and identify missing information before the next step. Review “Estimated Duration” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.

People operations teams

Replace scattered requests with a consistent starting point. The answers help you understand the work, identify gaps and prepare a follow-up. Review “Estimated Cost” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.

Corporate training coordinators

Use this as a starting point when you need the same essential information from each person. Review the questions against your process before sharing your copy. Review “How does this training relate to your current role or career goals?” in particular and adapt it to the detail you need.

What's included

Course name, provider, and format fields
Training date and duration for scheduling and budget planning
Cost estimate for budget approval workflows
Business justification and expected outcomes fields
Manager name for routing and approval tracking
Instant notification to HR and manager on submission
Free with unlimited submissions

How to create a training request form

  1. 1

    Click 'Use this template' to open the training request form in formformform.

  2. 2

    Update the intro paragraph to reference your company's training budget policy and the approval process employees should expect.

  3. 3

    Add any budget threshold fields if your company requires different approval paths for different cost levels (e.g., automatic approval under $200, manager + HR approval over $500).

  4. 4

    Set the notification email to your HR or L&D team's inbox, or a shared alias that routes to both HR and the relevant department head.

  5. 5

    Embed the form on your company intranet or share the link in your employee handbook under 'Professional Development'.

  6. 6

    Review submissions quarterly alongside your L&D budget to plan training cohorts and identify department-wide skill gaps.

Best practices for your training request form

Publish your training policy alongside the form

employees submit better requests when they know upfront what's eligible for reimbursement, what the budget limits are, and how long approval takes.

Require business justification

the 'how does this relate to your role' field is the most important one. It differentiates personal interest from professional development and produces much stronger conversations between employees and managers.

Acknowledge every submission

even if approval takes two weeks, a same-day confirmation that the request was received reduces employee frustration and follow-up messages to HR.

Track spending by department

export submissions quarterly and filter by department to identify which teams are investing in development and which aren't. Both patterns are worth addressing.

Follow up on completed training

build a follow-up process to ask employees what they learned and how they've applied it. This accountability loop improves knowledge transfer and justifies future approvals.

Use approved requests to plan group training

when multiple employees from the same team request similar training, it's often more cost-effective to bring the provider in-house for a workshop.

Frequently asked questions

Is this training request form template free?

Yes, completely free. You can collect unlimited training requests with no subscription required.

How does my manager get notified of my request?

The form captures your manager's name, and the notification email goes to HR or whoever you configure as the recipient. Include a note in your intro paragraph explaining that the employee's manager will be contacted separately for approval.

Can I add a budget approval workflow to this form?

The form collects the cost estimate and manager name. For a formal approval workflow, you can use Zapier to route high-cost submissions to a secondary approver automatically, or simply build the approval step into your process after reviewing the dashboard.

Can employees track the status of their request?

The form doesn't have built-in status tracking, but you can use the post-submit message to explain the review timeline and whom to contact for an update.

Can I use this for conference attendance requests as well?

Yes. The 'Conference or event' option in the Training Format field covers conference attendance. You might also add fields for travel cost estimates if your organization reimburses travel separately from registration fees.

How do I export all training requests for budget planning?

All submissions are stored in your formformform dashboard and can be exported as a CSV. Filter by date range to pull requests for a specific budget period.

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