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Training: Still a Low Priority
Bob Weinstein is a journalist who covers technology, project management, the workplace and career development.
The average company spends more time talking about training than it does actually training its employees. What better proof than the amount of money the average company invests in training?
Companies spent an average of $1,102 per employee on training in 2008, according to Bersin & Associates, an Oakland, Calif.-based management consulting company. And despite many companies’ assertions that they planned to invest more in training in 2008, the figure is unchanged from last year. Here are some statistics from Bersin & Associates’ 2008 Corporate Learning Factbook:
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Corporate investments in learning vary significantly by industry. The highest-spending industry is finance and insurance ($1,061 per learner), and the lowest is retail ($594 per learner).
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Twenty-one percent of all training dollars are spent on leadership development and management/supervisory training, making this the largest area of investment on a cross-industry basis. This is not surprising, according to the management consulting company, considering increasing evidence that there is a severe deficit of leadership talent.
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While leadership/management training is a top priority overall, specific industries are investing heavily in other areas. For example, here’s how three major industries spend their training dollars:
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