As employers are becoming increasingly focused on re-skilling their employees, overall spending on training jumped 12 percent in 2012, according to a study by Bersin by Deloitte, a provider of research-based membership programs in human resources, talent and learning.
"As the pace of innovation accelerates and companies look to expand their operations, employees should acquire more specialized skills and adapt to a workplace that grows more transient, mobile and self-serving – what we call the 'borderless workplace,'" says Karen O'Leonard, lead analyst of benchmarking for Bersin by Deloitte. "Modern learning organizations are embracing these changes by rethinking how they operate to closely align with business needs. For U.S. organizations, that means committing more dollars to develop internal talent and to build the desired skills for competitive advantage."
Among the surveyed industries, the technology and manufacturing sectors experienced the largest budgetary gains with 20 percent increases in training spending. These raises are attributed to the facts that the technology sector is constantly changing, and the manufacturing sector is experiencing major shifts to remain globally competitive.
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The study also finds that mature companies with effective learning and development functions spent 34 percent more at $867 per learner as opposed to the average of $706 per learner. Respondents from large companies tripled their spending on social learning for an average of $46,000 in 2012. Regarding training budgets, respondents spent an average of 16 percent on external learning services, an increase from 12 percent in 2009.
While many training departments brought in additional staff in 2012, the training staff ratio in comparison to the learner population dropped for many respondents.
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