Companies that prioritize corporate training and development have a clear competitive advantage. Research from the Corporate Leadership Council shows they outperform their competitors by 19 percent. They also have higher employee engagement, less turnover and increased revenue compared with companies that don’t invest in their people.
But training and development initiatives are often the last initiatives to be approved and the first to be cut when organizations are looking to cut back. It can be difficult to prove these activities have a measurable impact on revenue. If you need help making the business case for leadership development or want a better grasp on what your competition is doing, these recent corporate training statistics are a great place to start.
1. 87% of Millennials See Career Development As a Priority
In Gallup’s latest report, How Millennials Want to Work and Live, 87 percent of millennials said professional development opportunities were important to them in a job, and 59 percent said they were “very important.”
The takeaway: If your organization is trying to attract and retain talented young professionals, it’s in your best interest to make this a priority.
2. Fewer Than Half of Millennials Learned Something New On the Job Last Month
While millennials place a high value on professional development, the majority of them aren’t getting it at their workplace. In the same report, only 39 percent said they had learned something new on the job in the last month.
The takeaway: For various reasons, millennials feel like their development needs are being ignored in the workplace. Traditional methods of training may not be enough to engage them. It may be time to rethink your company’s strategy for training and developing Millennials.
3. Aspiring Managers Get Less Than 30 Minutes of Training Per Year
Research from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found employers with fewer than 100 employees provided just 12 minutes of manager training over each six-month period—less than half an hour per year! Among larger companies, the state of training and development was even more bleak: Employees received just half that amount, or six minutes over six months.
The takeaway: Training should be aligned with your company’s strategic objectives and written into management’s annual and quarterly goals so it isn’t overlooked.
4. Only 12% of Learners Used What They Learned On the Job
In a September 2015 report by 24 x 7 Learning, only 12 percent of learners said they actually applied the skills they learned in training to improve their job performance. The takeaway: This statistic illustrates a glaring problem within the training and development industry: Training is not translating well into real-world application. This is likely because training professionals aren’t taking the time to map learning objectives to the needs of their organization. Any training and development initiative should start with a conversation about employee competencies—those characteristics that are most closely linked with success within a particular position at the organization.
5. Organizations Spent $700 Per Employee On Training
Companies are spending less on training than they have in the past. On average, companies spent $702 per learner in 2015 compared to $976 the previous year. At least part of this can be attributed to the fact that different methods of learning, such as self-guided e-learning programs, make training more cost-effective.
The takeaway: Now is the time to invest in online tools to make training more cost-effective if you haven’t already done so.
Tying It All Together
These statistics paint a picture of a corporate training landscape that is constantly evolving. Training professionals need to be sure they have both the strategy and technology in place to ensure they are maximizing their investment in training while constantly looking for ways to make it more flexible and affordable.
