Innovative Professional Offices (www.InnovativeProfessionalOffices.com), a top provider of executive offices and support services, is commenting on the results of a new report that shows employee training has declined in the past 15 years.
Fewer employees are receiving on-the-job training, according to a new report from C. Jeffery Waddoups, an economics professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. While only 21% of employees reported receiving training in 2001, that number declined to 15% of employees by 2009. (Source: Cappelli, P., “The Employee-Training Conundrum,” Human Resource Executive Online, February 22, 2016; http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/view/story.jhtml?id=534359935.)
“Employee training is very important, but these results are showing that it’s being used less than ever,” says Eshai Hirshberg, director of Innovative Professional Offices. “The rates of employee training were already very low back in the early 2000s, but they’ve gotten even lower. This is a huge shift in the workplace.”
In fact, this decline in employer-training represents a nearly one third drop in the rates. The decline was also seen across the board in nearly all industries and with workers of all education levels.
“There are many types of jobs that really benefit from employee-training,” says Hirshberg. “Training provides employers with a more skilled, knowledgeable, and satisfied workforce, so there could be major drawbacks to this decline. It surely is causing changes in the workforce.”
The report found that larger companies had a larger decline in their employee-training. Companies with more than 100 employees were more likely to have scaled down their training in the past two decades.
“For larger companies, it’s likely a reflection of the labour market where they feel like they can already get the most trained workers in every field,” says Hirshberg. “For smaller companies, it’s usually costs that hold them back, but that’s not really accurate anymore. You can actually rent training seminar rooms for very affordable rates now, but the perception can still persist.”
According to the report, less educated workers were also less likely to receive training than their higher-educated peers. It is thought that this could be a big factor in companies’ complaints that they cannot find skilled workers.
“If employees aren’t getting the training they need, then they won’t have the skills either,” notes Hirshberg. “One of the best ways to get skilled workers is by providing training so that they can actually learn and improve on their skills. Companies that do this ultimately will have a more skilled workforce.”
Hirshberg also notes that on-the-job training typically comes up as one of the top perks employees look for in companies. This means that the decline in training could also be causing a big decline in employee satisfaction.
“There is a silver lining to this trend,” says Hirshberg. “Smaller companies now know how they can get an edge on their competition. Skilled workers want to go where they can improve on their skills, so providing training is a great way to attract the best talent.”
Innovative Professional Offices offers training seminar rentals, office rentals, and administration services, primarily to small- and medium-sized businesses that don’t have a need for an office on a daily basis.
