Thanks to all 1,052 participants in the 2014 Training and Development Survey! Here are the highlights:
- New hire orientation is the most commonly offered training topic, followed by sexual harassment and emergency procedures.
- HR conducts the training at 78 percent of respondents’ businesses.
- In the coming years, 86 percent expect to use more online training.
Here are the detailed results:
When asked who makes decisions about training, 85.2% (70% in 2013) of the participants in our survey indicated that it’s executive management. Human resources management is involved in making those decisions for 84.6%. In-house counsel is involved in the decision-making process for 25.1%, and training/development staff is involved for 62.2% of survey participants. Supervisors and managers, however, are involved in the decision-making process for 83.8%.
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Training Process
A separate training department is in place for 31.1% of respondents, and 25.6% have a designated supervisor who oversees training full-time. Full-time trainers are on staff for 29.5%.
One hour is the regularly preferred session length for employee training for 38.8% of survey participants, and it is 2 hours for 19.3%. For 17.9% 4 hours is preferred, and a half-hour is the session of choice for 17.1%. Ninety minutes is regularly scheduled by 15.8%, and all-day training is preferred by 14.7%. Forty-five minutes is the norm for 11.9%, and training sessions of 15 minutes or less trails the pack at 7.5%.
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Training Topics
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Mentoring Programs
Formal mentoring programs are available for employees at 27.4% of survey participants who answered this question in our survey, and they are available for supervisors at 19%. Manager-level employees are included in formal mentoring programs at 17.6%.
Management Training
Leadership/management is the professional development topic covered most (82.6%) when training management team members, followed by dealing with problem employees at 76%. Following closely is ethics/integrity at 71.7% and communication/presentation at 69.4%. Coming in next is team building at 69.1%. Other professional training topics for management include:
- Company mission and values—68.8%
- Time management—56.3%
- Job-related skills—55.7%
Our survey question regarding professional development for employees paints a different picture, with job-related skills topping the list for 83.8%, followed by company mission and values at 73.3%. Next in line is ethics/integrity at 64.8% and communication/presentation at 58.6%. Other professional training topics for employees include:
- Team building—54.6%
- Time management—50.1%
- Dealing/coping with problem employee—23.1%
- Leadership/management—20.7%
Employee Training Required Trends
For 43% of those responding to this question in our survey, incoming employees with no college education require more on-the-job training than their counterparts of prior years. This employee group requires the same amount of training for 33.1% and less training for 2.3%. Incoming tech workers with no college require more training for 38.7%, the same amount of training for 37.8%, and less training than in the past for 2.7%.
College-educated, nontech workers require more training for 27.7%, the same level of training for 48.6%, and less training for 4.1%. College-educated tech workers require more training for 24.8%, the same amount of training for 48.1%, and less training for 7%.
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Top Training Needs
The number one training need for the organizations represented by our survey participants is job skills (22.1%), followed closely by leadership/supervisory skills (20.5%). Compliance training comes in third at 12%, with safety training next at 6.5%. Better training materials are needed by 5.9%, and more time for training is needed by 5.6%.
The number one complaint regarding training is that there isn’t enough time for training (27.5%), followed by there’s not enough training available (11.1%). Inadequate materials (10.6%) and a lack of cost-effective training (10.2%) are next, with the issue that training takes too much time away from the job (7.9%) rounding out the top five complaints.
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Products and Services
Quality of the materials is very important for 80.5% and moderately important for 15%. Cost is very important for 74% and moderately important for 19.7%. Adaptability to their needs is very important for 72% and moderately important for 20.7%. Ability to deploy on mobiles/tablets is not a consideration for 55.7% and is slightly important for 21%. The kind of equipment required is not a consideration for 8% and is slightly important for 19.8%.
The most recommended source/vendor for training is SHRM at 76.9%. Coming in second and third are BLR® (72.6%) and HR.BLR.com® (69.5%). Fourth and fifth are OSHA (64.2%) and the U.S. Department of Labor (56.7%).
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Participant Demographics
Organizations with up to 250 employees account for 55% of our survey participants, and 24.2% have 251 to 1,000 employees. Another 14.4% employ 1,001 to 5,000 individuals, and 6.5% of survey respondents work in organizations with more than 5,000 employees. Unions represent employees at 24.9% of our survey participant employers.
Privately owned, for-profit organizations are represented by 53.1% of survey participants and privately owned not-for-profits account for 20.9%. Public sector employers make up 22.6% and “other” represents 3.4%. Industries include:
- Manufacturing—17.7%
- Health care and social assistance—15%
- Finance and insurance—9%
- Educational services—7.2%
- Public administration—6.9%
- Professional, technical, and scientific services—5.7%
- Retail trade—3.4%
Our 1,052 survey participants are classified as Staff (18.8%), Supervisor (6.3%), Manager (55.6%), and VP or higher (19.3%).
Once again, thanks to all participants!
In tomorrow’s Advisor, we will provide more survey results, including training methods, training budgets, training metrics, and survey demographics, plus we’ll showcase a comprehensive online library of interactive training sessions on more than 100 key HR topics.