Training budgets are back. Many organizations that made double-digit cuts in training funding in 2008 and 2009 increased spending on employee development in 2010. A survey by Bersin & Associates found that companies spent an average of 2% more on training last year than the year before—$682 per learner.
Part of the money paid for additional staff trainers, but some went toward instructional technology that was put on hold during the recession.
“This uptick in training spending and staffing is good news for employees and employers,” says Josh Bersin, the research firm’s CEO and president. “It’s a clear signal that companies are no longer focused solely on cost-cutting. They’re looking at developing their leadership and organizational capabilities to win in the marketplace.”
The new focus on training comes just in time. Nearly half of HR managers in a recent OfficeTeam survey said their greatest staffing concern was employee training and development—far outpacing concern over retaining top performers, which came in second at 27%.
The recession taught many employers how to do more training for less. They learned to save by experimenting with video, teleconference and online training—cost-effective alternatives to traditional stand-up courses—and those formats are here to stay.
If your organization is ready to reinvest in training, follow these 10 principles:
1. Create your own online training. Services like Prfessor.com enable companies to create their own online classrooms and whole training centers, using step-by-step course-development software. It guides novice trainers as they put together lesson plans, presentations and exams.
2. Use social media to foster continuous learning. The ongoing shift toward a global, borderless workplace is leading employers to adopt informal learning and coaching models. Aiding that trend: Informal instructional delivery methods like blogs, wikis and internal social networks. Even Facebook and LinkedIn can work as training media.
Bersin researchers found that 30% of U.S. companies with any kind of training budget in 2010 dabbled in informal online learning tools or services.
3. Encourage online college learning. Online college classes allow employees to study when it’s convenient—early morning, late at night or during lunch breaks, for example—because they don’t rely on physical attendance at a specific time. Bonus: A 2009 U.S. Department of Education study determined that students taking online college classes performed better than those in traditional classrooms.
4. Focus training on core skills that have the most impact on your business. When Florida’s AutoNation car dealership chain began hiring staff again after a couple of years of cutbacks, it moved to more business-focused, specialized training to build deep expertise.
Result: Better business. Last year, the company sold 9,500 more vehicles through its e-commerce channel than in 2009, despite fewer customer leads. AutoNation credits the 24% increase to better employee skills, a product of focused sales training.
5. Cross-train employees. An employee who knows how to perform several jobs is more valuable than a one-trick pony. More organizations are cross-training employees so they possess a wider range of skills. That builds in staffing flexibility—and helps insulate multiskilled employees from layoffs that might affect co-workers with more limited range.
6. Tap the expertise of older workers. Before experienced employees retire, create formal ways for them to pass on their knowledge. Pair older mentors with younger workers. Ask retiring workers to write about their jobs and their knowledge of company history. Recruit experienced employees to conduct workshops that teach specialized skills and address how the work really gets done.
7. Add personal skills training. Even high-level execs can benefit from lessons in getting organized. It pays off in productivity—one study claims some office workers waste up to seven workweeks a year looking for misplaced documents. Another time-saver: Learning to manage e-mail. Most desk workers only know how to read, reply and send e-mail, not how to organize it.
8. Ask employees how they prefer to learn. Once post-recession sales began to improve at The Cheesecake Factory, the casual-dining chain adopted a social-learning platform that uses storytelling and teaching by example, with videos created by restaurant employees themselves. Trainees said the innovation helped them master skills much more effectively than reading out of a handbook or sitting through a dry PowerPoint presentation.
9. Make training fun. McDonald’s in Japan has teamed with Nintendo to create a video game that teaches employees how to prepare burgers to company specifications. The chain estimates the game cuts new employee training time in half.
10. Consider training as a bargaining chip. Employees value training, sometimes as much as salary increases. In a CareerBuilder survey, 23% of employees said they would accept more training in lieu of a raise, and 14% said tuition reimbursement would satisfy them if higher pay was out of the question.
