UK business is starting to see training as an investment rather than a cost, according to research by the Institute of Management.
Four in 10 of the managers questioned claimed their organisation had an explicit management development budget. In larger organisations this rises to almost half (49 per cent) – up from 40 per cent in larger companies in 1996.
The average spent per manager is just over £1,000 per year but the figures suggest half of all organisations still have no separately defined budget area.
When it comes to identifying training needs, 76 per cent of HR managers use appraisals but line managers prefer individuals’ own initiative (58 per cent) and informal chats (41 per cent).
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Lord Sainsbury, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Science and Innovation, claimed at the conference that Britain’s executives are better trained and in a stronger position to match the skills of their overseas competitors than ever before.
The research showed there has been a major increase in training, which has risen by 18 per cent in larger organisations and 25 per cent in smaller companies.
