5 Ways a healthy learning and development budget can benefit your business

Hana Dickinson

In uncertain times, a company's learning and development budget can be one of the first things to be downsized. However, there is a growing body of research to suggest that staff training can lead to numerous benefits to both employees and the overall business. Let's look at some of the ways in which a healthy learning and development budget can lead to business success.

Employee productivity

A healthy training budget can lead to employees feeling valued and empowered. A study by the National Centre on the Educational Quality of the Workforce found that a 10% increase in educational development can lead to an 8.6% increase in productivity (1).

Closing skill gaps

One downside of an ever-evolving digital landscape is that it can result in a wider skills gap. One study found that nearly two-thirds of managers think that their employees are unable to keep up with future skills needs, and 7 in 10 employees feel they are yet to master the skills they need for their current roles (2).

The solution to minimising the skills gap is to focus on employee development with role-specific training. According to LinkedIn Learning, no less than 67% of talent developers see closing skill gaps as the top way to demonstrate the success of learning (3).

Employee satisfaction

Development can also impact your employees' relationship with your business. Research suggests that there is a positive relationship between training and organisational outcomes such as employee job satisfaction and their commitment to your company (4).

Employee turnover

Investing in your employees' learning can positively impact their experience at work. A report on Workplace Learning by LinkedIn Learning found that staff who spend more than five hours each week learning feel less stressed, have a greater purpose, and know where they want to go with their careers. In addition, 94% of employees said they would stay at a company longer if it invested in their learning and development (3).

Your choice of learning and development programme matters

Of course, the type of learning programmes your business chooses to undertake can also impact your business. For example, our courses aim to increase inclusion and diversity to encourage the promotion of more women into senior positions.

Research has shown that the greater the gender diversity among senior leadership, the better a business performs. One recent study, Adding Women to the C-Suite Changes How Companies Think, by Corinne Post, Boris Lokshin, and Christophe Boone5, found that this is because businesses with women in top management positions are more open to change and less open to risk.

The study concluded that the new perspectives lead to a shift away from a merger and acquisition focus in favour of internal research and development. As a result, the businesses are in a stronger position to consider a broader spectrum of strategies for creating value.

You can find out more about our AMBITION and ACCELERATE leadership programmes here, or browse our entire suite of award-winning Learning and Development programmes. If you have any questions, please get in touch.

References

(1) https://www.ibtta.org/sites/default/files/documents/2017/Tampa/The%20True%20Cost%20of%20Not%20Providing%20Employee%20Training.pdf

(2) https://www.gartner.com/en/human-resources/insights/skills-gap

(3) https://learning.linkedin.com/content/dam/me/business/en-us/amp/learning-solutions/images/workplace-learning-report-2019/pdf/workplace-learning-report-2019.pdf

(4) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258179915_One_More_Reason_Not_to_Cut_Your_Training_Budget_The_Relationship_between_Training_and_Organizational_Outcomes

(5) https://hbr.org/2021/04/research-adding-women-to-the-c-suite-changes-how-companies-think

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