U-Blog 2

Corporate Training Funding and Methods.

This is probably not news to anyone, but the stories on the internet have facts to prove the point. Take this article for instance. "$58.5 billion to $56.2 billion" is a significant drop. 2.3 billion dollars and the drop in expenditures on employee training dropped 11%.

John Bersin in this article says "Today's business world demands a combination of formal and informal learning with an emphasis on collaboration, knowledge sharing, social networking, coaching, and mentoring". He goes on to mention that formal instructor led courses are not going by the wayside anytime soon, the funding for such courses is diminishing. It's quite understandable that instructor led, classroom based education is still going to exist. Some people prefer that method and style of education.

I think it's safe to say that my parents, and possibly others from that generation, tend to prefer the instructor led, classroom based, style of education. I see this often at work, where people ranging from ages 40 and older come in to learn about "computers". We offer them a free, online based service called GCFLearnFree from Goodwill. We have no funding (imagine that) to offer classroom based instruction unfortunatly. They try the service but end up confused/frustrated/uninterested.

It doesn't bode well for training companies and facilities if the market cannot afford to employee their services. Many people out there need the education to perform their job better, or to broaden their skills and obtain a better position within their company. It is understandable that a company must force budge cuts throughout a corporation. However, undereducated employees may end up wasting company time and money. Cutting education expenses is certainly a difficult call to make. Hopefully this current trend in education spending will change in the near future.