Dive Brief:
- Businesses continue to invest in employee development, according to a new survey from ATD. ATD's 2018 State of the Industry report shows employers increased their per-employee spend on training again in 2017, up nearly 2% to $1,296. This marks the sixth year in a row that businesses in the survey increased their investment in training staff members.
- The data reveals that employees averaged over 34 hours of training per year (similar to 2016), with technology-based learning accounting for 41% of all time spent learning. While only 8% of training spend is allocated to tuition reimbursement, 26% of training dollars went to outsourced or external activities.
- The top four areas of training for 2017 were supervisory/managerial training (13% offered it); mandatory and compliance training (12%); business practices, processes and procedures (11%); and interpersonal skills (10%). On-the-job learning and training that was provided during working hours was heavily emphasized by 59% of responding organizations.
Dive Insight:
As businesses push to upskill employees, more staff members (and potential staff members) see training as a top priority, as well. Increasingly, employers that don't offer some form of sponsored development may fall behind their competition. In Udemy's 2018 Skills Gap Report, 51% of employees would quit their job if training was not offered.
It’s not surprising management training topped the ATD list. Managers in particular are feeling the pressure; data suggests almost half of managers feel overwhelmed in the workplace. Up to 59% admitted they had no training whatsoever to do their jobs and that their skills had been mostly self-taught.
Employers are working with educators, government and NGOs to upskill staff members and train job seekers to maintain headcount and plan for growth. Employers across industries, from retail, insurance, food service and more, are forming partnerships with these various third-parties to address the education gap. As technology displaces more workers, it may become increasingly important to upskill current employees to help them (and the company) keep pace with the market.
