By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady
A warm “Thank you” to the 2,800 HRDA readers who responded to our recent survey concerning the effect of the economic slump on your organizations and your departments! Here’s a summary of the results.
Smaller Businesses Hit Hardest
While the slumping economy is hurting businesses of all sizes, smaller businesses—and their spending budgets—are being hit the hardest.
More than 60% of companies with 100 or fewer employees reported a slowdown in business, with the smallest—those with 20 or fewer employees—getting hit the hardest (61%), according to the survey.
Larger companies are also feeling the squeeze, but slightly less so: Just under 57% of organizations with more than 100 employees reported a drop off in business. That percentage was the same for companies with between 101 and 500 employees as it was for those with more than 500 employees.
“Although small businesses are being hit the hardest, let’s hope they are also more nimble and better able to adjust their budgets and staffing levels to the changing economy,” said BLR founder and CEO Bob Brady. “They have to change faster because they often don’t have the staying power of larger organizations.”
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Training Budgets Trimmed
Those adjustments already seem to be under way. Almost 42% of respondents with smaller organizations (100 or fewer employees) reported that their training and compliance budgets have been reduced compared to the first half of this year. Less than 36% of respondents at larger organizations (100+ employees) reported a reduction in resources for those purposes.
Of those companies cutting back on training and compliance spending, nearly 30% said their budgets were being cut from between 51% to 100%. The most often reported (36%) budget reduction was between 21% and 50%, followed by reductions of between 1% and 20% (35%).
Somewhat surprisingly, mid- to large-sized organizations (101 to 500 employees) reported the biggest hit, with more than 40% citing reductions of between 51% and 100%.
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Delay in Payment Might Help
Just over 10% of respondents at smaller organizations reported that they would be more likely to purchase training and compliance products if they did not have to pay for 6 months. That number was less than 5% for respondents at larger organizations.
“It could be that small companies are beginning to see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel,” said Brady, who added, “Or it could just be economic pragmatism.”
I can’t help commenting that at BLR we don’t think it’s wise to cut back on compliance training, but not just because compliance is what we sell! The headlines show that the cost of dealing with just one complaint or lawsuit far exceeds the cost of the compliance training that would prevent it.
Thanks once again for participating in our survey. Send your comments to me at Rbrady@blr.com.