Orange, GAP and Bedfordshire council join new learning and development forum

Learning and development professionals across various sectors have agreed to work together to thrash out their talent management issues.

Twenty-four employers – including Orange, Scottish and Southern Energy, Gap, The Lifestyle Service Group and Bedfordshire County Council – will take part in a new learning and development forum, hosted by training group Leaps and Bounds, to share ideas on boosting talent and loyalty, and managing in a changing economic climate.

The forum will meet quarterly, with each event hosted by a different employer who will be given a platform to discuss their own concerns and seek solutions from the other employers.

John Reice, development change manager at the Lifestyle Service Group, said: “Talent is not moving as easily as it was [prior to the recession] so learning and development needs to come into its own to build talent and improve loyalty. It’s the perfect time for learning and development to step up and prove its benefits.”

Ryan Sadler, group learning and development manager at Scottish and Southern Energy, was looking forward to gaining fresh external views on schemes he had initiated “rather than just recycling internal thoughts”.

“Sharing different perspectives can confirm you are thinking on the right lines or get you to look at things slightly differently. That can only help,” he said.

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The first session will be hosted by Gap on 17 September.

Last month, a survey by the Institute of Directors found 51% of employers had maintained their training budgets during the recession, while 29% had increased their training spend.