Back in September 2007, we surveyed companies in the South East of England about their learning and development practices and found that 64% spent less than 5% of their overall budget on learning and development activities.

Over a quarter (28%), reported spending between £401 and £600 per employee, per year and only 12% reported spending more than £800.

These days we are hearing that getting funding for training and development is harder than ever so we have put our heads together to come up with some suggestions as to how you can continue employee development on tighter budgets.

Tip 1

Consider running in-house programmes instead of sending your employees on public courses.  Companies like LCP, who deliver bespoke and tailored courses at your premises charge the same daily rate irrespective of the number of participants who attend.  So for a group of ten delegates you could pay less than a third of the cost compared to sending them on a public programme.

Tip 2

If you don't have enough people to justify an in-house course consider linking up with another organisation so you can split the cost.

Tip 3

Develop your own internal learning and development talent.  This not only gives you cost effective training but also aids employee engagement and retention.  Contact us
for advice about training internal trainers, mentors and coaches.

Tip 4

Find out about funding you can access.  Train to Gain have just annouced their latest funding packages so contact your local broker about what is available in terms of NVQ's, apprenticeships, life skills and leadership development grants.(See article the below).

Tip 5

Think outside the box - consider a variety of development solutions.  For example, instead of sending people on one or two day courses think about alternatives such as 'lunch and learn' sessions or providing them with access to e-library systems such as Alchemy for Managers.

Tip 6

Avoid wasting time and money by ensuring your learning and development interventions are targeted and deliver results.  Psychometric tests can be used to assess potential and build tailored development plans which are relevant and will yield results.

Tip 7

Finally, use your existing processes to develop your employees.  Consider how you can introduce developmental activities into your staff meetings, employee newsletters, intranets and conferences.