ASTD releases its 2001 State of the Industry Report
ASTD releases its 2001 State of the Industry Report
Keywords: Training, Skills, Learning, Investment
The average US company is training more of its employees than ever before,more dollars are going to technical skills training than any other type of training, and e-learning gains momentum among large companies, according to The 2001 ASTD State of the Industry Report released by the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD).
While the average company is training record levels of employees (78.6 per cent), Mark Van Buren, Director of Research for ASTD, said: "It's important to note that the top 10 per cent of companies surveyed train 98.4 per cent of employees in their organisations."
"The top 10 per cent of companies surveyed, or 'Training Investment Leaders', also spent an average of $1,665 on training per eligible employee,compared to $677 for the average survey respondent", he noted. "Training Investment Leaders have made learning a central focus of organisation-wide efforts to stay competitive and deliver results in the New Economy."
The study's key findings also indicate a few surprises, according to Van Buren. "The training landscape is shifting, in part because of the rapid rate of change many firms have been experiencing", he said. "Training,like any other financial investment, is not immune to changing times. Now, more than ever, companies must continually demonstrate the value and worth of their investments in training."
Additional key findings of the study include the following:
Overall training expenditures in 1999 fell to 1.8 per cent of payroll, down from 2.0 per cent in 1998.
The largest share of spending on training went to training in technical processes and procedures (13 per cent), with professional skills following close behind (11 per cent). Interpersonal communication, new employee orientation and IT skills followed at 9 per cent each.
The use of e-learning has levelled off over the past two years in smaller companies, with the average firm in 1999 delivering 8.4 per cent of its training using e-learning, compared to the 1998 figure of 8.5 per cent. However, large companies exhibited the opposite trend in e-learning. Among companies in the ASTD Benchmarking Forum, which average more than 55,000 employees, the percentage of training time delivered via e-learning grew from 12.3 per cent in 1998 to 13.8 per cent in 1999.
Results indicate a slight increase in classroom training, up to 79.9 per cent in 1999 from 78.4 per cent in 1998.
Outsourcing expenditures are down as firms bring more of the training function "in house", with the aim of reducing costs while providing more individualised and specialised learning.
The 2001 ASTD State of the Industry Report is available for purchase by calling the ASTD Customer Care Center at 703 683 8100. The report costs$39.95/$54.95 (ASTD members/non-members). Please use product code 190101 when ordering.
