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Change on the agenda for the delivery of training in UK organisations, says survey

According to this year's CIPD Learning and Development survey, sweeping change is on the agenda for the delivery of training in UK organisations. The survey found moves towards more strategic implementation, greater scrutiny of programmes delivered, and even greater emphasis on the growing role of line managers as a result of the recession.

The survey of almost 900 learning and development managers found median training spend per employee falling from £300 last year to £220 this year.

The biggest change anticipated by respondents over the next five years is a closer integration of learning and development activity with business strategy (65%) to produce more effective results. A similar proportion of respondents (60%) anticipate a greater emphasis on the monitoring and evaluation of training effectiveness so that organisations continue to offer training that has the biggest impact on the business bottom line.

Just under half of respondents expect more responsibility to be devolved to both learners (42%) and line managers (46%). Forty-seven percent of respondents are making greater use of coaching by line managers and 61% of those surveyed are investing in new programmes to develop the role of line managers.

The survey found that the greatest area of growth in training methods was in-house development programmes, with over half (57%) of respondents saying that they have used them more in the past two years. Employers also continue to view in-house development and coaching by line managers as the most effective learning and development practices (48% and 47% respectively).

Claire McCartney, organisation, resourcing and performance adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said: "Employee training and development remains an important priority for employers but budgets are being squeezed. Learning and Development professionals have an important role to play in helping organisations through the downturn.

"To make the best of the current situation professionals must prove unequivocally that the development they provide is aligned to the business strategy and will make a strong difference to current and future performance."

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