Executive Summary- 2011 United States
Training Industry Report
Training magazine's
30th annual training industry survey was administered during
May and June of 2011. The final data set comprises 790 U.S. companies
with more than 100 employees that are not providers or suppliers of
training products or services.
The survey was built around
previous years' surveys including 38 questions in 5 areas:
About the organization and
respondent
Training expenditures and staffing
Training budgets
Methods of training delivery
Training outsourcing.
About the
organization:
The results were cross-tabulated by company size, dividing the companies
according to number of employees in 3 ranges: Small - 100-999; Midsize
- 1000-9999; and Large - more than 10,000. Our sample had 231 (29%)
Small organizations, 314 (40%) Midsize, and 245 (31%) Large organizations.
The majority (46.5%) of companies described their business as a "Service"
organization. In a follow-up question, 17% of organizations identified
themselves as Health/Medical service providers and 14% are in the Finance/Banking
industry.
Across all responding companies,
there were 7.8 million employees trained, with more than 7 million of
them from large companies. We estimate that 73% of those trained are
U.S. employees. Some large companies had high percentages of foreign
trainees.
About the
respondents: Our respondents
were largely at the manager level (26%), Specialists or Supervisors
(22%), or Instructional designers (25%), and had the role of determining
the need for and recommending purchases. Less than 7% were VP level
or higher, and 15% made final purchase decisions.
Total Annual Training Budgets are summarized in this table.
| |
Average Training Expenditures
across 2011 Sample |
| Size
|
Total Expenditures |
Staff Payroll |
Outside Products & Services
|
| Small
|
$ 256,082 |
$ 142,294 |
$ 37,071 |
| Midsize
|
$ 1,776,997 |
$ 745,663 |
$ 320,005 |
| Large
|
$ 12,677,841 |
$ 3,842,308 |
$ 2,636,219 |
Companies spent an average
of 19% of their total budgets for training tools and technology. In
the next year, 38% of companies anticipate purchasing Online Learning
Tools & Systems and Authoring Tools/Systems and Classroom Tools
and Systems, both at 32%. Companies spend an average of $749 per learner
across all sizes. Large corporations spend considerably less ($375)
and Manufacturer/Distributor organizations tend to spend the most ($1,150)
compared to other types of companies.
32% of companies reported an
increase in total training budget this year, with most in the 6%-15%
increase range. More Retail/Wholesale companies reported an increase.
25% of companies reported a decrease in total budget in that same range,
especially the Government/Military organizations. Many decreases were
reportedly due to company-wide cutbacks.
Who is trained? Companies provide an average of 39
hours of training per year to each employee. Large organizations average
higher (50 hours) with large Retail Wholesale companies providing an
average of 93 hours. The bulk of training is for non-exempt employees
(41%), although 34% of training is delivered to managers and executives.
Staff per learner: Large companies have the fewest staff per learner
(8 per 1000), compared to Midsize (11) and Small (19) companies. 29%
of companies report having an increase in training staff this year,
while 55% remained the same and 16% had dropped.
Training Priorities: The main foci of training are on increasing
effectiveness of training programs and reducing costs and improving
efficiency. More than 50% of respondents listed these items as their
top priorities.
Methods of delivery: Most companies use a blended approach
to training delivery, combining online methods with classroom lectures.
Mandatory or compliance training is mostly done online now, with 73%
of companies reporting online methods. Most companies (69%) use a Leaning
Management System (LMS) in their training programs, and many use Virtual
Classroom/Webcasting/Video Broadcasting for at least some of their training.
Larger organizations tend to use learning technologies to a greater
extent that smaller companies.
Outsourcing: Companies tend to outsource custom content development
and LMS operation hosting. 80% of learner support and LMS administration
is handled in-house, and Instruction/Facilitation is about evenly split
between in-house and outsourcing. Large organizations tend to outsource
more, especially in the area of custom content development. Overall,
respondents expect outsourcing to remain about the same in the coming
year. Large companies will outsource less, especially for Instruction/Facilitation
and LMS administration. Midsize companies may be outsourcing more for
Custom content development.
