What are Career Education Institutions Doing to Meet their own Workforce Needs?
As career educators, we understand the value of training and career development. We motivate and train people to prepare them for the workforce. Now, the question is - what are we doing to meet our own workforce needs? Are we investing enough to provide adequate continuing education and training opportunities for our employees? Before you answer this question, consider the points made below.
The Two Ends of the Spectrum
As an employee training provider for the career college sector, MaxKnowledge has served a wide range of educational institutions in every state of the country. Working with about 1,500 colleges and universities, we have provided training for career college professionals from the executive level to support staff. Our experience has been varied. At one end of the spectrum, we have seen schools that are only interested in providing the minimum level of training to their employees to satisfy the continuing education and professional development requirements of their accrediting and/or licensing bodies. At the other end of spectrum, however, we have seen schools that have embraced the concept of the "learning organization" and offer comprehensive training and development plans for each employee with a focus on linking training to performance objectives.
Best Examples of Learning Organizations
Shouldn't career education institutions represent the best examples of learning organizations? We understand the value of training and development better than any other industry. The people who work in our sector are dedicated professionals who understand how education and training leads to individual and organizational success. After all, it is our mission and the reason our institutions exist.
Benchmarks for Learning Organizations
To be the best, we need to compare our employee training and development practices with leading organizations. The American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) has been studying the activities and trends of leading organizations for over a decade. Every year, ASTD publishes a "State ofthe Industry" report that provides data against which organizations can benchmark their learning investments and practices. ASTD's report is very comprehensive. It includes both quantitative and qualitative information on how leading organizations invest in employee development, use technology to deliver training, utilize dashboards to measure efficiency and effectiveness, and align learning with organizational strategies and performance goals. Here, I will highlight just a few of the key indicators from the 2011 report to get you thinking about how your organization's investment in training measures up to that of leading organizations.
Average Learning Investment per ASTD's Research (2010):
- Learning Hours Received per Employee: 32
- Expenditure per Employee (FTE): $1,228.00
- Expenditure as % of Payroll (Without Benefits & Taxes): 2.7%
The leading organizations demonstrate a clear link between learning and performance. They foster, support, and leverage enterprise-wide learning for institutional results. The above indicators give you an idea of the leading organizations' level of investment in training.
So how do you measure up?
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