Last week,
we started a two-part series about the important topic of training
budgets growing again. In fact, spending on corporate training in the
United States grew by a notable 15 percent last year – its highest
growth rate in seven years. Moreover, corporate training now represents
more than $130 billion worldwide. Since there is so much to share about
this topic, here is Part 2 from the same source, the just-released "2014
Corporate Learning Factbook" from Bersin by Deloitte.
Spending
on leadership development remains strong. The top areas of spending are
management and leadership (35 percent) just as it has been in prior
years. As Bersin’s research on corporate talent shows, global leadership
gaps continue to be top of mind for business and HR leaders. In
addition, as Millennials assume positions of greater responsibility,
companies will need to build leadership bench strength at all levels
throughout the world.
In our experience at Employer of Choice
International Inc., high-performing organizations regularly spend more
on training than others. Companies that invest in a total learning and
development strategy spend more per employee than those that do not have
such a commitment. This result clearly demonstrates that investment in
learning and development provides a return on that outlay.
Technology
is rapidly changing the learning and development playing field. There
has been exponential growth in the number of training technology tools.
Self-authored video, online communication channels, virtual learning and
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs, including the platforms of
Coursera, Udacity, Udemy, edX), are all growing fast as training tools.
People
still need formal classroom education for some subjects – especially
those requiring hard skills, but face-to-face education now represents
less than half the total "hours" people spend in training worldwide.
Plus,
among those companies that are on the leading edge, as much as 18
percent of all training is now delivered through mobile devices. Expect
mobile platforms to continue to gain in importance. As we have written
in the past, people value their cell phones over their laptops.
We
agree with Bersin in terms of seeing significant growth in new virtual
learning environments. Companies like General Electric, Motorola,
Philips and others have extended their training budgets to reach two to
three times the audience, through the use of these training portals and
virtual learning experiences. While most big companies still struggle to
justify their training spending, the adoption of technology in training
has accelerated.
Though the use of these platforms is growing
extremely fast and we are thrilled that there is any investment toward
the training, we remain unconvinced that these online platforms provide
an effective long-term answer to the massive amount of training that is
needed to bring people up to speed. There are two factors that remain
unaccounted for: 1. The ability of the new generations to learn this way
and their willingness to expend the effort required for success with
these technologies.
