Professional Training in Europe

-A Cegos Observatory Survey conducted

in Germany, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and the Netherlands.

A comparison of the viewpointsof 2,800 employees and 600 HR Directors/Training Managers.

22012 samples

Job category

Company size (headcount)

2,800 Employees

Information collected online in February-March 2012

600 HRDs/TMs

Business sector

Company size (headcount)

3

I – Reasons for trainingA noticeable difference in perception

between HRDs and employees

4HRDs are more likely than employees to perceive the dominant product technology and commercial focus of training courses

Topics covered by the training courses taken

Job-specific skills

Professional Effectiveness, Communication

IT, Office Software, Internet

Technical training: company products or services

Administration, Finance, Accounting, Purchasing, Logistics, QSE

HR, Management, Leadership, Project Management

Business, Sales, Marketing

Foreign languages

HRD

1

7

5

2

6

4

3

8

Employees

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

What topics did the training courses cover?How employees and HRDs rank course focus

5Reasons for training: employees are more mature than HRDs tend to think

2

4

3

1

Employees HRDs/TMs

65%

65%

48%

46%

45%

40%

36%

57%

54%

49%

58%

64%

45%

36%

To work more efficiently and effectively

A more fulfilling professional and personal life

To enhance employability for internal mobility

To qualify for a pay rise

To qualify for a promotion

To enhance employability for external mobility

To qualify for a diploma

100 75 50 25 25 50 75 1000

What are the main reasons for taking a training course?

6In France, the difference between employees' and HRDs/TMs' perceptions is just as noticeable

c

Which of the reasons for taking a training course do you find most motivating? (% of respondents who described this reason as "highly motivating")

Employees HRDs/TMs

A more fulfilling professional and personal life: 67%

To work better in the current job: 66%

To qualify for a pay rise: 59%

To qualify for a promotion: 69%

To qualify for a pay rise: 58%

A more fulfilling professional and personal life: 55%

7

II - Employee satisfaction with training

8On the whole, employees are happy with their training

How satisfied are you, on the whole, with the training courses you took? (one answer only)

Very satisfied

Quite satisfied

Not very satisfied and Not

satisfied at all

47% 63% 10%

31% 61% 8%

The highest values depending on the country

9Training courses are seen as useful and on-target

Overall, depending on the training courses undertaken, would you say :

% of respondents who replied "Yes, absolutely", only.

Least satisfied

23%

35%

29%

33%

28%

26%

28%

Most satisfied

48%

48%

43%

48%

39%

36%

43%

10

III - Learning methods:

the boom in blended courses and tutoring

11Tutoring and blended courses are continuing to gain ground

Learning methods used by employees: (multiple answers possible)

Group course in a classroom

Tutoring/Coaching

Online distance learning

Classroom and distance learning

12Multi-modal solutions: substantial differences from one country to another, France still lagging behind

Learning methods used by employees: (multiple answers possible)

Group course(s) in a classroomwith a tutor

Tutoring - Coaching

Online distance learning (e-Learning, virtual classrooms)

90%

47%

43%

39% Blended learning combining classroom and distance learning

95% 90% 91% 88% 89%

87%

27% 43% 57% 52% 48%

57%

29% 35% 53% 51% 53%

35%

28% 32% 50% 43% 48%

30%

13Employees in every category are satisfied with all methods

How well do the different learning methods meet your expectations?

94%

91%

89%

88%

94%

89%

91%

89%

94%

93%

89%

87%

95%

88%

85%

91%

Manual/Office workers

Tech./Supervisors

Mgt.

14

21% • Wikis

19% • Blogs

18% • Communities of practice

18% • Podcasts

Yes46%

Social media not yet mainstream

Have you used any of these learning methods over the past three years?

Yes: 40%Wikis: 15%Blogs: 15%Communities: 13%Podcasts: 19%

15

47% e-Learning modules(46% in 2010)

35%Video conferences(33% in 2010)

25%Serious games(23% in 2010)

25%Mobile learning(21% in 2010)

Methods such as video conferencing, serious games and mobile learning are catching on

Question asked only to employees who had undertaken training

What distance-learning methods are used to train employees?(several answers possible)

16Online courses:popular with all categories of employees!

94%

92%

90%

89%

How well do distance-learning methods meet your expectations?

Manual/Office workers

Tech./Supervisors

Mgt.

95%

93%

87%

93%

94%

92%

90%

89%

93%

92%

91%

87%

17Younger learners are not necessarily the keenest ‘techies’

How well do distance-learning methods meet your expectations? Under

25

88%

94%

92%

82%

96%

92%

88%

90%

95%

92%

92%

91%

25 to34

35 to 44

45 to 54

55 andup

94%

91%

89%

92%

93%

89%

92%

88%

94%

92%

90%

89%

18Employees prefer to be coached

on trainingcourses

"on thejob"

How do you prefer "on the job" training ?

(for trained employees)How would you rather learn?

19HRDs and TMs tend to prefer multi-modal solutions

As HRD, do you expect these learning methods to play a major role in in-company training in the coming years?

Highest Lowest

28% 46%

35% 42%

26% 33%

29% 38%

21% 30%

55%

57%

48%

40%

31%

27%

18%

21%

29%

30%

46%

11%

12%

7%

* « Asolutely agree" responses only.

20

IV - Employees' active role in their training plans

21Employees take the initiative or discuss their training plans with their manager

As a general rule, who decides what training courses you take? (several answers possible)

39% 40% 39%

I do My manager and I

The company

56% 46% 39% The highest values depending on the country

22Working hours and financing:the context shapes expectations

For your training, would you be willing to (several answers possible):

Train outside normalworking hours?

Pay all or part ofthe cost of training?

When did the training courses take place? (one answer only)

58% 45% 43% 21%

67%82% 69% 40%

75%

10%

15%

Trained employees Non-trained

23

V – Most (but not all) companies are very involved in their team members' training

24HRDs/TMs and employees are mostly satisfied with what their company is doing for training

Accurately identify the skills it needs?

Inform employees of the range of courses available?

Build and cement employees' careers?

Explain changes in the company's businesses?

Enable the manager to monitor the training path and the skills acquired?

Accurately establish the training requirements (and seek employees' opinions about

what they need)?

Employees

HRDs/TMs

Do you think your company is doing everything possible to:

Yes, definitely Yes, mostly

25The French and the Dutch are less enthusiastic about their company's involvement

74%

70%

67%

67%

66%

65%

Most satisfied Least satisfied

78% 78%

75%

64%

61%

72% 73% 60%

74% 56%

57%71%

59%72%

Do you think your company is doing everything possible to:

26

70%

65%

60%

55%

50%

45%

40%

35%

30%

Managers' involvement at each stage of the training process: HRDs-TMs and employees have widely differing viewpoints

Support and guidance during training

Post-course review

Needs analysis

UK GermanyFrance Italy NetherlandsSpain

How involved is your manager in your training path?Only respondents who replied "Very involved"

Very involved according to:The HRDs-TMsThe employees

27Post-course follow-up is by no means systematic

30%Assessed on what you learnt?

30%Asked for your opinion on how the course was conducted?

44%Asked whether you are satisfied with the course?

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

"Systematically" replies only

Highest Lowest

51% 38% 43%

32% 28% 29%

36% 26% 27%

At the end of a training course, are you systematically:

28Recent trends : positive, but perceptions vary from one country to another

60% 64% 65% 61% 67%

56%

58% 65% 66% 55% 67%

57%

51% 58% 66% 51% 64%

54%

51% 52% 64% 50% 63%

60%

48% 52% 61% 49% 58%

51%

In recent years, what changes have you seen in the following? "Very positive" and "Quite positive" combined

29

As HRD/TM, what training investments do you think should be made for the near future, and for whom?

Highest Lowest

54%

47%

46%

40%

39%

23%

32%

15%

18%

18%

33%

HRDs give priority to young people and employees with special talent

30

VI - Focus on untrained employees:

a lack of motivation for training

31A significant percentage of employees do not really feel concerned...

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

We asked employees who had not received training if they knew the reason for this.

21%

21%

19%

I do not know why.*

I am not one of the people trained.

There is never any training in my company.

For over 20% of respondents in the countries:

* Respondents who work for companies that employ over 2,000 people account for most of the ones who do not know why they did not receive training.

32Untrained employees tend not to see any connection between training and employability

Do you think the fact that you have not undertaken any training in the last three years might compromise:

Not at allA littleA lot

Your employability?

Your chances of being promoted?

Close-up on the groups with the highest % of "not at all compromised" replies:

55 and up

75%

80%

Mgt.

65%

71%

Staff of >2,000

63%

68%

33

CONCLUSION

34To move towards 'life-long learning', should we be listening more to employees?

With each successive survey, we have found the employees polled to be increasingly mature in their approach to training, eager to embrace all the learning methods available and aware of the issues at stake

Employees see training first of all as a way to achieve personal and professional fulfilment, then as a way to do their job better

There are a number of watchpoints for HRDs/TMs:There is a gap between their perceptions of employee maturity as regards training and what the survey findings show. This gap can lead to miscommunication and misunderstandings about the use of training provisions (such as the individual training rights in France, for example)

Some of the untrained employees have clearly been 'left by the wayside'

Blended training solutions are growing in popularity. Here again, clichéd ideas about whether online learning methods are more popular with certain age brackets or certain job categories are shown to be outdated

35To read more about training...

http://www.formation-professionnelle.fr/