Corporate Training – An Investment In Knowledge Pays The Best Interest
“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest”, Benjamin Franklin. Corporate Training and skill development is an absolutely vital part of a company’s long-term investment and growth strategy. You would be hard pressed to find a manager, or even employer, who was totally confident in their employee training and development program or efforts. It is an often overlooked part of employee investment.
According to the IMF, India is projected to become the 6thlargest global economy by 2020 and the 3rd largest (behind China and the US) by 2030. To put this in perspective – currently India is home to only 7 companies in the Global Fortune 500, compared to 128 based in the US and 98 in China! So the next decade and a half will see the number of Indian companies in the Global Fortune 500 list growing to at least 100.
Large economies like the US have always stayed ahead of such disruptive cycles in business and technology, by sustained focus and large strategic investments in research, innovation and human capital. On the human capital front, as per industry reports, US companies on an average budget 8-10% of their total employee spend on training, with a total annual outlay of over $100 billion. This is also a market that has been growing at 15% year-on-year since 2012.
India is currently a much smaller economy at about a tenth of the US. However, even at this size the corporate training market is disproportionately small, with estimated spends of only 1-2% of employee costs and a total outlay of less than $1 billion. However this trend is slowly changing with the realization of the importance corporate training for organizational progressiveness. The corporate training market is expected to reach INR 32 billion by 2020.
In the competitive globalized business landscape, organizations are in continual search of ways and means to outperform their competitors. It is being increasingly recognized that in the volatile business environment when work activities and structures are fast changing, the ability of an organization to harness the potential of its human resource is critical for their survival and success.
Recently many studies have found that non-financial motivators can be just as effective, if not more, than monetary rewards. Employees are looking for learning and development offerings that will help them on their professional journey in the long run. Here are some interesting stats to ponder on for Human Resource professionals –
As one of the top three non-financial motivators, 76% of employees want opportunities for career growth.
— 87% of millennials say professional development or career growth opportunities are very important.
— 25% of employees would be more satisfied at work if they were given the opportunity to do what they do best.
— Only 37% of employees indicated they were “very satisfied” and 51% “somewhat satisfied” with their jobs.
— Training and development spend has risen by 15% in the last year (2015) alone.
— Spend on corporate training has grown to over $70 billion in the United States (2016) alone.
— Research also tells us that over 70% of learning on the job occurs informally. 68% of workers say training and development is the most important workplace policy.
The organizations are analyzing the HR training needs depending on their goals and priorities. Employee Training and Development efforts are seen by employees as an investment in them. One thing is for sure, employee development is a high demand as a motivator. Offering learning, development and training is a competitive advantage in business for a many of reasons, not the least of which is that the organization ends up with knowledgeable, capable employees who are more invested in a company that invests in them.
Today “Quality talent” or “Engaged employees” desire the skill development and want to be more valuable and versatile. As a result from big corporates to SMEs, all are beginning to search for innovative ways to attract quality talent, bridge the skill gap and give its employees a reason to stay – employee development it is. Attraction and retention are such huge issues in talent management right now; organisations would be wise to start investing more resources into their employee training and development. At Strategic HR and Training we cater to the fact that retention, managing attrition and engaging a demanding and versatile workforce are the key challenges. Our training services provide the perfect bridge to close this gap!