According to a survey carried out by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) 43% of managers anticipate that their training budgets will be cut in the upcoming year.
This is leading to organisations having to think of new, more cost-effective ways to train their staff. According to this recent article in Personnel Today more companies are considering providing online solutions to train and develop their staff. Interestingly, the CMI survey indicated that for 35% of workers this is their prefered method of brushing up their skills.
Online learning can be really effective because it allows employees to access support as and when they need it. Furthermore it is self-paced so you can spend as long, or little time as you like on it. A recent article in The Grapevine praised online training solutions stating that: “The use of technology [...] gives the added benefit of real choice and flexibility for individuals in how, when and where their services are delivered.”
It can also be beneficial for organisations as costs are often lower and they can potentially offer support to large numbers of staff.
However, despite all the advantages of e-learning, will it ever completely replace other methods of training such as workshops, seminars or mentoring. It seems very unlikely. The CMI survey showed that the employees most popular type of training was receiving advice from trusted colleagues.
In reality a combination of training methods is often the most succesful. How do you prefer to receive training?
