UK EMPLOYERS have been urged to radically overhaul their training processes after it emerged that poor productivity cost them $171 billion last year
UK EMPLOYERS have been urged to radically overhaul their training processes after it emerged that poor productivity cost them more than $171 billion last year.
Employers in England alone spent a record $81 billion on training last year to boost the performance of their workforces, according to statistics from the Learning and Skills Council.
But the effectiveness of this training has been called into question by separate research from Proudfoot Consulting, which revealed that poor productivity cost UK employers more than $171 billion in 2005 – equivalent to 36 days per worker, per year.
The Proudfoot Productivity Report showed that UKcompanies waste more time than those of any other nation in the West.
It was based on more than 800 responses from executives in 19 countries and 1,900 in-depth business reviews of companies in 30 countries.
Simon Glynn, chief operating officer at Proudfoot, said most of the training provision in firms was mis-directed. “Much of UK learning is classroom-based, where it needs to be hands-on training in the field,” he said.
Joanne Francom, head of HR at housing group WP Homes, said huge training spend in itself would not improve productivity.
“Employers need to consider the relevance of the training they are providing, which should be individually matched to an employee’s competence against the requirements of their role,” she said.
Debbie Whitaker, group head of people product management at Standard Chartered bank, saidmany companies saw training as a panacea for improving productivity, but didn't measure its impact on performance.
“Worse, many companies focus training spend on problem areas, rather than leveraging their skills for high performance,” she said.
HR departments should provide follow-up help to ensure employees apply what they have learned to their jobs, said Judith Coslett, head of HR at Guildford Borough Council. “But HR has a battle on its hands to try and convince managers to prioritise time for this,” she warned.
While poor productivity is hitting UK firms in the pocket, Australian companies are aiming higher than their UK counterparts in terms of getting more from their workforce.
The Proudfoot study found that 9 per cent Australian executives expect productivity in their companies to increase by more than 20 per cent in the coming year. Just 2 per cent of UK executives thought the same. Moreover, Australian executives were more confident of achieving up to 10 per cent growth in productivity levels.
While 4 per cent or UK executives expect no improvement, no Australian executives were as pessimistic.
Australia may have fared better than the UK, but Brazil and Asia lead the world in terms of expectation of increased productivity. Nearly a quarter of Brazilian and Asian executives are expecting more than 10 per cent growth in the coming year.
With Personnel Today. www.personneltoday.com. A$ figures converted from local currency
