January 10, 2003—Training investments are holding their own, despite the recession and the effects of the September 11 attacks, and a higher share of total training expenditures are going to e-learning, according to the latest research report, Training for the Next Economy: An ASTD State of the Industry Report, published by the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD).
As overall training investments held their own between 2000 and 2001, the percentage of training delivered via learning technologies (or e-learning) increased noticeably for Benchmarking Service organizations—from 8.8 percent of total training hours delivered via learning technologies in 2000, to 10.5 percent in 2001—the largest such increase reported for e-learning in the last four years of the ASTD State of the Industry Report.
The data in this report show that Training Investment Leaders spend twice as much per eligible employee as the average organization ($1,647 per employee versus $761) and provide more than double the training hours (57 hours versus 23.7).
Training Investment Leaders also differ from the average organization in terms of the employee groups that are trained, human performance management practices, work practices, and methods of evaluation.
Training events connected to September 11 hold important lessons for the workplace learning and performance community. Although there was no significant difference in organizations’ projections for training expenditures before and after September 11, 2001, the pre-existing shift to e-learning was enhanced by these events.
To understand more about the effect of September 11 on training, ASTD interviewed key players in three different training initiatives carried out in the wake of the terrorist attacks. These included:
- The U.S. government’s efforts to hire and train 32,000 passenger screeners to staff airport security checkpoints, now part of the Transportation Security Administration.
- The U.S. Postal Service’s nationwide training initiative aimed at preventing deaths and infection from anthrax-laced mail.
- A small non-profit organization’s efforts to help workers dislocated by the attack on the Pentagon.
Electronic copies of the full report, Training for the Next Economy: An ASTD State of the Industry Report on Trends in Employer-Provided Training in the United States may be ordered through ASTD’s online store. The report is free for ASTD members. Non-members may purchase the report for $79.95.
