Yes, training and development is often the first budget to be axed in a spending review. But some organisations are doing more with less but with a tighter focus on skills development to suit the business strategy and not for the sake of enhancing the employee’s personal development.
The latest learning and talent development survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) shows that investment in training is shifting towards Government-led initiatives to support the growing number of people on the Live Register which has now reached 430,000 – up 200,000 over the past year.
The spotlight now is on ‘must-have’ rather than ‘nice-to-have’ training to meet compliance requirements rather than personnel development ambitions. Average spend on training per employee, according the CIPD summer 2009 survey, has fallen from €335 last year to around €255.
It appears that while cutting training budgets was the first step taken by many finance directors, to avoid redundancies and losing staff, the cuts were generally confined to sending fewer people to participate in external courses or attending professional conferences.
In contrast, a study by the Institute of Directors (April/May 2009) indicated that non-HR managers now have a stronger commitment to training and development. One-third of them were actually backing increased investment but the emphasis is on in-house training to control or reduce costs.
The CIPD survey indicates that training has thrived in workplaces where it is both relevant, measured and aligned to the wider corporate objectives. At ClearLearning we have always advised clients that measurement and metrics are key factors in preparing a talent development strategy.
There is a shift in focus towards development a greater awareness of the business cycle and the opportunities for positioning for post-recession opportunities and recovery. This is reflected in a shift in training focus towards:
• Commercial awareness
• Business acumen
• Leadership and management
• Communications and engagement
Management talent to boost productivity and competitiveness, in both the private and public sectors, is key to determining that we come through the recession in time to benefit from any global uplift. Otherwise, there is always the danger that many parts of the Irish economy could stagnate and miss the international rising tide as happened for a decade to many businesses in Japan since the late 1990s.
Now is the time to shape and reform training and development strategies and make decisions about the delivery of business improvements through enhanced employee and manager competencies.
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