“Moving Businesses from Inadequate to Outstanding” is a new CIPD report claiming that UK employers are “sleepwalking into a low-value, low-skills economy”. The report attributes this to two main factors:
- an inadequate education system
- low employer spend on training
As employers we can do little about the first, but we can do something about the second. We can affect how much we spend on training our workforce. Employer spending on training has been reducing year on year since 2005. The UK spends an average of just £ 202.30 per employee on training compared to an average spend of £457.42 per employee across the rest of Europe. The UK is now fourth from bottom place in an EU league table of job-related adult learning.
The CIPD is making a valid point. The effectiveness of training isn’t determined by how much is spent on it. It states that UK employers may have found ways to minimise their training spend, without reducing the quality of the training. Using digital training or negotiating better deals with training providers is one way they are doing this. But the situation is very different in America, where the average spend on training per employee is £787.35.
However, there is a potential disincentive for employers to train their employees. Training increases the employee’s employability with other employers. This is an employer objection that’s relatively easily overcome. Therefore, by using contractual terms and training agreements employers can protect their investment. This will give them enough time for the employer to at least begin seeing a return on employee spend. If you don’t already have these in place, drop us a line and we’ll help you out.
Training is more important now than ever before
In a world of rapidly changing technology, training is more important than ever before if we want to go from inadequate to outstanding. Increasingly, low-skilled tasks are being automated. We’re seeing services being transformed by artificial intelligence. To have any chance of staying in long term work, people need constant re-training.
An interesting piece of research on the impact of technology on work over the last 140 years has found that technology has created more jobs than it’s destroyed. From the amusing example of 200,00 people in 1901 being employed in the clothes washing industry to just 35, 000 people in 2011, to the rise in accountancy employees from 9,832 to 215,768 over the same period, technology isn’t all doom and gloom. But it is about change.
There are lots of options out there for employers to access.
Coursera has a wide range of courses at lots of different levels. There’s also Lynda.com , part of the LinkedIn learning platform. There are independent e-learning providers and there are the traditional academic routes. Don’t forget that in-house learning is just as valid and often more cost-effective. There is also the advantage that employees attending learning will pass on their knowledge and skills to others. The old “sitting next to Nelly” approach to training sometimes gets a bad name. If just one member of staff is well trained and skilled at teaching others, it can be cost effective and help with consistency.
Moving Businesses From Inadequate to Outstanding
It’s a stark fact if you are moving businesses from inadequate to outstanding that technological change will need their employees to gain more skills. The supply from education and immigration will be insufficient. Employers wanting to achieve real change in their businesses will have no choice, but to train our employees ourselves.
If you want to talk to us in confidence about how you can transform you business from inadequate to outstanding give us a call now 07106 565332
Metis HR is a professional HR Consultancy based in the North West of England supporting clients across the country. We specialise in providing outsourced HR services to small and medium-sized businesses.
