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TODAY
|
10/07/98- Updated 08:10 AM ET |
The Nation's Homepage |
Experts: Billions wasted on skills training
Faced with crippling skill shortages, employers are spending skyrocketing amounts of money training workers.
The problem? Many programs just don't work.
Billions of dollars are spent on wasteful training courses, experts say. But new studies show most on-the-job learning happens outside a classroom.
"Companies would rather throw money at a problem than solve it, so people just pursue the program du jour," says Alan Weiss, author of Our Emperors Have No Clothes, on how bad management led to layoffs. "It's the white elephant no one talks about."
About $5.6 billion to $16.8 billion is wasted annually on ineffective training programs that focus on so-called soft skills, based on estimates from a Rutgers University study. That estimate, derived from a mathematical formula, varied according to assumptions used by researchers.
The issue is getting mounting attention as training programs grow in popularity.
The Conference Board, a nonprofit research and business group, is hosting a gathering Wednesday in New York that will look at new training strategies.
Training problems:
- Employees aren't motivated. Workers who see training as a career boost will learn and feel loyal to a company, experts say.
"You have to want to do it because it's going to take effort and it's going to take time," says Daniel Goleman, author of Working with Emotional Intelligence.
- Programs are poorly designed. Companies may unwittingly support unimaginative or dull programs that employees find deter learning.
- Trainers lack expertise. Those providing training may not know their audience, or they lack teaching skills.
Hoping to pique interest, some firms are turning to eclectic training approaches.
Spring Paranet in Houston requires technical analysts to take two weeks of training a year. There is also a week-long retreat for some new hires.
Bankers Trust has married training with 3-D videogames. In one game, employees try to land clients by reacting to simulated problems.
Others turn to wilderness adventures, computer-based learning or mountain retreats.
But experts say businesses should check for results to separate effective programs from costly gimmicks.
"American industry is spending billions and billions on training programs and doing no evaluation of their effectiveness," says Cary Cherniss, a professor at Rutgers. "You have to measure it."
By Stephanie Armour, USA TODAY
©COPYRIGHT 1998 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.