Findcourses.com is sharing the results of its U.S. L&D “Benchmark your Workplace Learning” 2019 report. 70 professionals, mostly from HR and related professional services fields in organizations of all sizes, gave answers about their current workplace learning settings and future prospects.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 136,100 HR managers in 2016. The report could offer some pointers for further exploration, but should not be considered representative of the whole industry.
Main Takeaways
E-Learning has become the default medium of training and instruction. 30% declare E-Learning to be the most frequently used training method for professional development activities. It is followed by External in-house training (23%) and Workshops, classrooms, courses and seminars (22%).
46% of programs provide a balance of soft and hard skills. On the rest of the programs where one is the focus, soft skills are 5 times as popular as single subjects as hard skills.
Most organizations in the sample train staff for what amounts to between 1 and 2 weeks a year (26%). 15% claim to provide more than 3 weeks worth of training, but the sample average struggles to reach a full week of training per employee per year.
Leadership and management skills lead the pack as the most frequent training topics:
- Leadership and management development: 57%
- Customer service: 10%
- Sales: 10%
Some general results are offered without correlation to the L&D efforts. 60% of respondents claim their staff is “Engaged,” without a way to know if these are those who spend the most time or money on workplace training. No discrimination by hierarchy position is offered.
E-learning is the de facto technology among those polled. Other popular tools or approaches include:
- Micro-learning videos (45%)
- Virtual classrooms (23%)
- Mobile (23%)
- Game-based learning (21%)
- Virtual reality (4%)
Professional Development Issues in 2019
Age of Diversity?
The report focuses on diversity issues on the workplace. 70% of respondents say to have between “A moderate amount of diversity” and “A great deal of diversity.”
In 57% of workplaces in the sample, diversity and inclusion training is compulsory for all employees.
A figure, 72% floats around regarding the propensity of a “highly diverse” company to report growth or an increase in profits. (It’s unclear if the report considers both outcomes synonymous.) Even if the correlation is true, it is not possible to identify a causality.
Types of diversity and inclusion training include “Unconscious bias training,” “Sensitivity\empathy training” and “Cultural competence.”
ROI on L&D?
The report dares to suggest a correlation between workplace training and growth. More evidence is needed to identify the nature of the correlation. 39% of companies predict an L&D budget increase, while 46% do not expect additional training funds.
Issues of quality threaten both the consistency of delivery, and the ability to monitor outcomes and produce ROIs. 22% claim their L&D team is too small, the most popular challenge listed. Limited employee time comes second (19%), then budget concerns (18%).
More Resources
- Check out the 2019 Report
- Follow our series on Professional Development
- Interested in sharing your professional development story? Let us help
