Consumer slowdown could affect training

A slowdown in consumer spending is likely to have an effect on staff training, it has been claimed.

Nathan Clements, director of organisation development at Block and Quayle, told Personnel Today that staff training would be seen as a luxury in the current climate.

This admission follows on from claims made by the British Retail Consortium's (BRC's) director-general Stephen Robertson, who last week said retailers were likely to have to sacrifice staff training and recruitment as a result of budget restrictions.

Mr Clements told the magazine: "With the exception of legislative training for legal compliance reasons, a lot of companies see training and development as nice to have, rather than essential."

Also likely to be affected, he said, would be the level of staff recruitment in the retail sector.

Recent figures from the BRC revealed that sales in the industry fell for the first time in two years.