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Learning and development budgets are being hit by
the economic downturn, XpertHR Benchmarking research
finds.
Ongoing economic uncertainty is having a serious impact on UK
employers' learning and development budgets. This trend is
particularly pronounced in the public
sector. |
These are among the key findings of XpertHR's
2012 benchmarking survey of learning and development budgets, based on
responses from 74 organisations with a combined workforce of 410,027
employees.
XpertHR Benchmarking subscribers can
drill down into the complete results data from this survey to generate bespoke
reports on how their organisation compares.
Benchmarking learning and development budgets in 2012
The XpertHR survey provides essential benchmarking data on typical learning
and development budget levels in 2012:
How learning and development budgets are changing
Across the whole economy, more than two-thirds of organisations surveyed by
XpertHR say that their organisation's learning and development budget has been
greatly affected by changed
economic circumstances over the past two years.
This figure rises to three-quarters of respondents in the public
sector.
The survey provides the following insights into how learning and development
budgets have changed over the past 12 months.
- Across the whole economy, nearly two-fifths of organisations say their
learning and development budget has remained unchanged over the past
year. A further three in 10 report a decrease, while one in four
says it has increased.
- More than half of respondents from the public sector report a decrease,
while a further three in 10 have seen their learning and development budget
frozen.
Looking ahead, only a minority of respondents expect an increase to their
organisation's learning and development budget over the coming
year.
Cost-neutral training activities on the rise
Faced with the above challenges, a majority of employers are exploring cost-neutral options
for delivering learning and development to employees.
On-the-job help from colleagues is by far the most widespread cost-neutral
training option. The next most popular options are secondments and work
shadowing.
Michael Carty, benchmarking editor
Get in touch: email; Twitter; LinkedIn; Google+.
XpertHR Benchmarking: Six
ways to find the benchmarking data you need. |