UK companies top the European training league, according to a report from French e-learning specialist Cegos.
Its survey of 1,000 medium and large companies in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain found that 61% of staff at organisations polled in the UK received training in 2007, compared to less than half in the other four countries.
UK companies also tend to be more e-learning focused in their approach to L&D, with 55% of UK organisations surveyed providing e-learning, compared to 51% in Spain, and less than 50% in the other countries polled.
But training courses tend to be shorter in the UK than in other major European countries. Cegos said the average length of UK training courses was 14 hours, compared to 28 in Italy, 25 in Spain, 24 in Germany and 19 in France.
UK training spend is also lower than other European countries surveyed, bar Italy. The average UK training budget of the companies polled was £261,000, while it was £829,000 for France, £684,000 for Germany, £292,000 for Spain, and £236,000 for Italy.
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Cegos UK joint managing director Jeremy Bain said: “UK training departments are generally demanding activities condensed into bite-sized chunks. Long gone are days spent off-site on training courses. Many employees now have the tools for interactive learning at their desk, with personalised content delivered on demand.”
Other findings include:
86% of UK respondents and 74% of German ones use coaching, compared to less than half elsewhere.
43% of UK companies polled have a corporate university compared to 47% in France and 24% in Spain
Face-to-face learning is undertaken by 90% of those companies polled
55% of UK companies surveyed use e-learning
96% of German companies polled have a training department, while 90% of those surveyed in the UK and France also have one.
