UK businesses are wasting up to 20 per cent of their training budgets
because employees fail to attend designated business courses.
A survey of 250 buyers of training in the UK, by Cambridge Online Learning,
reveals that more than half of the organisations that calculate wastage due to
non-attendance admit to losses totalling between £217m and £871m per year.
Only one-fifth of respondents claim they suffer no financial loss from
training no-shows.
The survey also reveals that management training is still not a priority for
many UK employers. A quarter of all respondents spend their training budgets on
developing technical competencies while less than 10 per cent dedicate a
substantial amount to management development.
David Towler, principal and chief executive of Cambridge Online Learning,
said the high number of employees failing to attend training reflects the heavy
workloads many are operating under.
He said: "A lot of managers have a huge demands on their time. If
something lands on their desk that has to be dealt with immediately, training
can go out of the window."
