Keeping your employees up to speed with the latest training programmes can take up a lot of time you don’t really have. Outsourcing may be the answer

Keeping your employees up to speed with the latest training programmes can take up a lot of time you don’t really have. Outsourcing may be the answer

Increasingly, training specialists are advocating courses that are partly taught and partly based around work elements. Judy Saxton, manager of Learndirect’s Learning through Work scheme, says: ‘It means less time away from work and the training that is done is based on existing work projects, so it has a direct benefit.’

Courses are run throughout the year. ‘Costs are comparable to traditional part-time university courses,’ says Saxton.

‘But the benefit comes from the fact that development is ongoing as work continues – indeed one should complement the other.’

Counting the cost

For companies that can’t afford a dedicated training department, money saving is a major draw. John Docherty, human resources director at 2 Sisters Food Group, decided to outsource training for managers at the company following a performance review: ‘We found that there were a number of competencies that needed to be improved. We’re not big enough to warrant an in-house training department, so we looked to an external provider.

‘We needed someone with a range of skills to fit the various specialist management training needs that we had, so we developed a programme of workshops that runs throughout the year.’

Gabrielle Gardner, head of managed learning at training services company Epic, explains that there are various reasons to take the outsourcing route: ‘In general, I think it’s fair to say that outsourced or managed training allows middle managers to focus more on the strategic aspects of the business rather than its day-to-day running and staff development or admin.’

For Docherty, the outcome has been a ‘positive change in the company’. He says: ‘Staff are happier to stay now as they feel there is room for development – and if we compare last year’s management review with this year, there has been a marked improvement.

‘With this type of investment it takes some time to get a return, but we’re starting to see more managers than ever wanting to attend the courses. We’ve even been able to begin our first graduate recruitment drive, simply because we now have a suite of management development workshops to offer them.’