Oakland, CA – January 29, 2008 – Although
management represents a small percentage of the corporate
workforce, it gets the lion’s share of the corporate
training budget, according to Bersin & Associates’
just-published 2008
Corporate Learning Factbook®. Approximately
21% of training program dollars is spent on leadership
development and management/supervisory training.
“Corporations are investing heavily in current
and up-and-coming leaders,” said Josh Bersin, president
of Bersin & Associates, the only research and advisory
firm solely focused on enterprise learning and talent
management. “We see an emphasis in this area across
all sectors. Looming retirements, gaps in management talent,
and economic pressures are causing companies to funnel
dollars into their leadership pipelines.”
One of the company’s most popular studies, the
77-page 2008 Corporate Learning Factbook analyzes a wide
range of metrics, including: budgets, expenditures per
learner, cost per student hour, program priorities, budget
allocations, staffing sizes, staff to learner ratios,
staff to total spending, technology usage and budgets,
and outsourcing spending. The study is based on data collected
by an August 2007 survey conducted in partnership with
Training Magazine.
The Factbook offers corporate training executives baseline
metrics which can be used to assess the efficiencies of
their own corporate training initiatives. The Factbook
includes 130 data points broken down by company size and
industry sector, so executives can compare their own metrics
with those from comparable organizations.
Josh Bersin will discuss the report’s findings
and offer benchmarking guidance in a free webinar tomorrow,
Wednesday, January 30, 2:00 p.m. EST. To register, go
to http://events.interwise.com/?p=501131&t=7&s=bersin.
The webinar will cover these and other findings:
- The corporate learning market grew slightly from 2006
to 2007, increasing from $55.8B to $58.5. Spending on
products and services grew from $15.8B in 2006 to $16.38B
in 2007.
- The average spending per learner is $1,202, a figure
that is roughly equivalent to last year. The highest
spending sector is finance and insurance ($1,061 per
learner) and the lowest is retail ($594 per learner).
- While management/supervisory training and leadership
development is a top priority overall, specific industries
invest heavily in other employee audiences as well.
For instance, in telecommunications, 23% of training
program dollars is spent on customer service training;
technology companies invest 29% of training dollars
on sales training; and pharmaceuticals spend 25% on
compliance and other mandatory training.
- E-learning has grown dramatically. The use of self-study
e-learning now accounts for 20% of student hours, up
from last year’s figure of 15%. This growth is
driven largely by an increase in online training among
small organizations (100-999 employees), which are acquiring
the skills and technology to make online training a
reality.
- The younger generation of learners is driving changes
in learning strategies. This year’s study shows
a sharp increase in new web-based and collaborative
learning resources, such as podcasts, communities of
practice, blogs, and wikis.
- Reliance on outsourcing continues to increase in
two categories: the use of outside instructors and custom
content development. Outsourcing of LMS administration
showed a decline in 2007, as did use of offshore content
developers.
- Today 38% of organizations are using a learning management
system (LMS), with the highest growth in usage among
mid-market buyers. Over half of all companies are using
a virtual classroom tool, and between 20 to 30% are
using application simulation and rapid e-learning tools.
“This study is the most detailed and up-to-date
view of corporate learning and development available,”
said Karen O’Leonard, research director for the
study. “Our rigorous research methodology, combined
with the extensive survey database we have built over
the last few years, gives us a unique ability to quantify
key metrics and provide fact-supported analysis of important
trends.”
Factbook findings are the foundation for benchmarking
workshops held at Bersin & Associates’ upcoming
research conference, IMPACT 2008: The Business
of Talent, April 22-24, in St. Petersburg, FL.
For details, go to www.bersin.com/impact. A second webinar
covering the report is scheduled for Tuesday, February
26, at 2:00 p.m. EST. To register, go to http://events.interwise.com/?p=501199&t=7&s=bersin.
The Corporate Learning Factbook is available at no cost
to Bersin & Associates research members. Copies can
also be purchased for $595. For more information, including
a table of contents, go to http://www.bersin.com/factbook
.
About Bersin & Associates
Bersin & Associates is the only research and advisory
consulting firm focused solely on research in enterprise
learning and talent management. Bersin & Associates’
WhatWorks® research and research-based services are
designed to deliver actionable direction and to help improve
operational effectiveness and business impact.
Bersin & Associates research members gain access to
a comprehensive library of best practices, case studies,
benchmarks, and in-depth market analyses designed to guide
professionals in making fast and confident decisions.
Research areas include planning and strategy, learning
programs and delivery, talent management, technology and
infrastructure, and measurement and analytics. Member
benefits include in-depth advisory services, access to
proprietary webcasts, on-site analyst visits, and strategic
workshops.
Bersin & Associates is the host of the first research
conference on enterprise learning and talent management,
IMPACT 2008: The Business of Talent, scheduled for April
22-24 in St Petersburg, Florida (www.bersin.com/impact).
For more information, go to www.bersin.com or call 561
455 0622. |
