News

April 30, 2010

Tighter budgets force businesses to train in house

Tighter budgets have forced businesses to carry out more training internally, research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has found.

A CIPD survey in January this year found 58 per cent of businesses are making more use of in-house training than last year and 56 per cent are using line managers for coaching. A total of 62 per cent are using more e-learning.

"Training for small firms can be an expensive business," said CIPD adviser, Angela Baron. "Not only can it be big bucks to send people on external training courses, but the gaping hole left in the workforce is more profound. As a result, many make greater use of on-the-job training, e-learning and other tools which minimise the loss of production.

"The important thing for small organisations is to plan their training spend wisely," she added. "Don't send people off on expensive training if you have someone who can deliver the same information on-site with a bit of support. Make sure you give people the opportunity to put what they learn from training into practice and share their learning. Find out what training and support is available free from local business advice centres or skills councils."

Baron said that businesses should also see training as an investment. "If you manage your people well and encourage them to take responsibility for their own development, they are more likely to stick around to give you payback from any training you send them on," she said.

Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) spokeswoman, Prue Watson, said that the biggest problem that small firms face when looking at training is cost. "But there are financial incentives for small firms," she said.

"For example, if a small business takes on an apprentice they can receive £1,000 up front and £1,500 after three months," added Watson. "However, small firms generally do not know these incentives are available. Instead, they pay for the training themselves if they know the skills are beneficial to their bottom line."