The 1999 ASTD State of the Industry Report

Citation

(1999), "The 1999 ASTD State of the Industry Report", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 23 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/jeit.1999.00323gab.001

The 1999 ASTD State of the Industry Report

The 1999 ASTD State of the Industry Report

Keywords: Training, Workplace learning, Benchmarking

Earlier this year, the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) released its annual State of the Industry Report. Comprising information collected from firms in the USA, this report contains a comparative overview of the types of training employers provide; how much employers spend on training; the use of training, compensation and performance management practices; how organizations measure and evaluate their training; and a look at the future direction of the training industry. Currently, the report contains only US data. However, an international report will appear later this year.

Reporting the data

Data for the report were collected from organizations that participated in the ASTD Benchmarking Service and the ASTD Benchmarking Forum. The statistics are distinguished by how much participating firms spend on training, the percentage of employees trained within their organizations, their use of innovative practices, how they measure and evaluate their training, and the link between their training systems and their organizational performance.

By using the information in this industry report, training professionals can begin to better understand trends in the training industry, and how they might turn their own organization's performance from average to leading-edge. This is not an impossible task, as the average organizations in this report have been improving their training investments and practices. However, they have been doing it at a slower rate than the leading-edge organizations, and have not used the same mix of practices and technologies that the leading-edge organizations are using to achieve improved performance. This report can act as a guide for organizations that would like to move more swiftly to enhance performance.

The findings

This year's evidence indicates that both the amount of money invested in training and the percentage of people trained increased substantially over the previous year, and that, in order to reap the benefits of their training investments, organizations need to implement a comprehensive system of human performance practices. These comprehensive systems are primarily what distinguish leading-edge from average firms.

In 1997, average firms spent approximately $2 million on training. Leading-edge firms' training expenditures were $4.1 million in 1997 and were projected to be $4.7 million in 1998. For all firms in this report, training expenditures rose in 1997. And while the rise in training expenditures by all firms is a significant trend, it is underscored by the finding that the large training investments made by the leading-edge firms demonstrate a clear relationship with improved organizational performance. For the leading-edge firms that reported data for both 1996 and 1997, ASTD found significantly higher overall performance in 1997 compared with the other organizations. Additionally, the firms that spent more on training in 1996 performed better in 1997.

However, looking at organizational training expenditures is only one piece of the puzzle. Resource allocation, course types, use of learning technologies, outsourcing, and measuring and evaluating training are also important in understanding the whole picture. For example, leading-edge companies not only outspent and trained more employees than average firms, but they also used more innovative human performance practices such as job rotation, quality teams, coaching and mentoring, and employee profit or gain sharing plans among others. They also used a larger variety of learning technologies such as CD-ROMs and electronic performance support tools, and used more outside designers, developers and training providers to assist them in their training initiatives. Additionally, the leading-edge firms evaluated their training more often, measuring reaction, learning and behaviour approximately 4-8 per cent more than other organizations.

The data gathered for the State of the Industry Report is part of an ongoing ASTD effort to understand the training industry in a worldwide context. As the number of participating organizations within the ASTD database grows, the more detailed the analyses which ASTD can perform regarding firms' investments and outcomes of training become. Organizations can be a part of this study by participating in either ASTD's Benchmarking Service or the ASTD Benchmarking Forum. The Benchmarking Service is open to all organizations, regardless of size, that can provide the necessary data. Larger organizations that wish to participate in the data collection, but would also like to network and attend meetings with other world-class training, learning and performance specialists, can join the Benchmarking Forum. For more information about the Benchmarking Service, the Benchmarking Forum, or the State of the Industry Report, please call the ASTD Customer Service Center at +1 703 683 8100 or contact them by e-mail at info@astd.org