While Canadian corporate spending on training is flat, new figures from the United States show firms are putting more cash into employee development.
The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) released its fifth annual 2002 State of the Industry report and it indicates a significant increase in total training expenditures. In 1999, businesses were spending on average $1,072 (CDN) per employee for training programs and that number has increased to $1,115 in 2000. About 1.8 per cent of payroll was delegated towards training in 1999, a figure that climbed to two per cent in 2000. Many of the U.S. employers surveyed said they have high hopes for this year and expect these numbers to rise a great deal.
In Canada, a recent Conference Board of Canada study reported businesses spent an average of $859 per employee on T&D in 2000, a negligible increase from 1993’s statistic of $849 per employee. (For information on the report, select search and enter article #1212.)
Mark Van Buren, co-author of the ASTD study, said considering the economic climate, the U.S. statistics are rather surprising.
“We’ve had an economic recession and in the past companies have widely cut training. But we’re not seeing that this year.”
Approximately 367 organizations across the U.S. participated in ASTD’s Benchmarking service last year; they also provided relevant data on training activities in 2000 and 2001.
The study reports spending on employer-provided training grew; outsourcing is back on its way in from previous years and e-learning has returned to its highest level since 1997. Firms are using more technology-based learning to deliver training, the report said. About 8.8 per cent said they used e-learning systems and courseware in 2000 and see this investment growing in the next year. This is the highest figure since 1997 when the use of e-learning was reported at 9.1 per cent.
Companies used outside providers for training more often as well, outsourcing was recorded at 19.9 per cent in ’99 and moved up to 22.2 per cent a year later.
The report detailed trends shaping today’s learning and performance industry. ASTD also asked experts from different sectors across the globe to identify the top 10 developments affecting the future of T&D.
The top three trends include:
•money — increased pressure from shareholders for short-term profits puts pressure on employers to show ROI on training;
•diversity — there are more people in the workplace with different cultural backgrounds and they need to work together and find better ways to balance the “local” with the “global”; and
•time — increasing expectations for just-in-time products and services, created by globalization, means there are shorter time frames for learning. (See sidebar for complete list of top 10 trends.)
One of the questions that’s being raised out of these trends, said Van Buren, is how does one handle them all at the same time? It’s not clear you can satisfy all these different needs of the industry.
“If you look at all of them, you’re being pulled in many different directions. What’s interesting is how these trends cross-cut with one another and sometimes work at odds with one another,” he said.
Workplaces are becoming more diverse, just-in-time expectations are speeding up, globalization is growing quickly and all this is becoming like a tornado that’s picking up lots of speed, Van Buren said.
“How do organizations compete and stay above without getting pulled down by just the sheer speed of it?” he asked.
While the report doesn’t answer these in-depth questions, it points out the path employers are taking for T&D.
“Organizations have been burned in the past by trying other things to sustain their growth. More companies are recognizing the value of the people they have and there are certainly more people being trained in the typical organization.”
The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) released its fifth annual 2002 State of the Industry report and it indicates a significant increase in total training expenditures. In 1999, businesses were spending on average $1,072 (CDN) per employee for training programs and that number has increased to $1,115 in 2000. About 1.8 per cent of payroll was delegated towards training in 1999, a figure that climbed to two per cent in 2000. Many of the U.S. employers surveyed said they have high hopes for this year and expect these numbers to rise a great deal.
In Canada, a recent Conference Board of Canada study reported businesses spent an average of $859 per employee on T&D in 2000, a negligible increase from 1993’s statistic of $849 per employee. (For information on the report, select search and enter article #1212.)
Mark Van Buren, co-author of the ASTD study, said considering the economic climate, the U.S. statistics are rather surprising.
“We’ve had an economic recession and in the past companies have widely cut training. But we’re not seeing that this year.”
Approximately 367 organizations across the U.S. participated in ASTD’s Benchmarking service last year; they also provided relevant data on training activities in 2000 and 2001.
The study reports spending on employer-provided training grew; outsourcing is back on its way in from previous years and e-learning has returned to its highest level since 1997. Firms are using more technology-based learning to deliver training, the report said. About 8.8 per cent said they used e-learning systems and courseware in 2000 and see this investment growing in the next year. This is the highest figure since 1997 when the use of e-learning was reported at 9.1 per cent.
Companies used outside providers for training more often as well, outsourcing was recorded at 19.9 per cent in ’99 and moved up to 22.2 per cent a year later.
The report detailed trends shaping today’s learning and performance industry. ASTD also asked experts from different sectors across the globe to identify the top 10 developments affecting the future of T&D.
The top three trends include:
•money — increased pressure from shareholders for short-term profits puts pressure on employers to show ROI on training;
•diversity — there are more people in the workplace with different cultural backgrounds and they need to work together and find better ways to balance the “local” with the “global”; and
•time — increasing expectations for just-in-time products and services, created by globalization, means there are shorter time frames for learning. (See sidebar for complete list of top 10 trends.)
One of the questions that’s being raised out of these trends, said Van Buren, is how does one handle them all at the same time? It’s not clear you can satisfy all these different needs of the industry.
“If you look at all of them, you’re being pulled in many different directions. What’s interesting is how these trends cross-cut with one another and sometimes work at odds with one another,” he said.
Workplaces are becoming more diverse, just-in-time expectations are speeding up, globalization is growing quickly and all this is becoming like a tornado that’s picking up lots of speed, Van Buren said.
“How do organizations compete and stay above without getting pulled down by just the sheer speed of it?” he asked.
While the report doesn’t answer these in-depth questions, it points out the path employers are taking for T&D.
“Organizations have been burned in the past by trying other things to sustain their growth. More companies are recognizing the value of the people they have and there are certainly more people being trained in the typical organization.”
