News: Telephone and Writing Skills
Staff training expenditure reaches record high
16 May 2008
Businesses have spent a record £38.6 billion on training their staff, new research has shown.
A survey of more than 79,000 companies in the UK by the National Employer Skills Survey revealed that companies have more faith in employee investment than ever before.
More than 67 per cent of firms in the UK spent a combined total of 218 million days training their staff while the average amount spent per employee had increased to £1,750 in 2007, up from £1,550 in 2005.
In addition, the number of job vacancies which could not be filled as a result of a skills shortage decreased from 25 per cent in 2005 to 21 per cent in 2007.
Skills secretary John Denham said that a collective effort is needed to make sure staff have all the skills necessary to benefit their employers.
"It is very encouraging to see that 77,000 more companies trained their staff last year and I urge all businesses, regardless of size or sector, to follow their lead and invest in training," he said.
The Chartered Management Institute recently stated that employers must invest in staff if they wish to be successful.
