Benchmarking learning and development budgets in 2012
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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:
- Across the whole economy, the median organisational learning and development budget is £112,500 in 2012.
- The median learning and development budget per employee is £341.50.
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
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