Nearly a third of all workers in the United States receive no training at all from their employers, according to a recent study.
Making matters worse for an industry that is trying to reinvent itself as a high-service, experience-based alternative to ecommerce, the dearth of training in retail was the highest among all industries.
The Axonify second annual State of Workplace Training Study found that the proportion of employed adults who report they don’t receive any formal workplace training is up one-percent compared to the previous year -- 31% vs. 30%
The lack of formal training is more prevalent for women (36% vs. 25% of men), the less affluent (36% of those earning less than $50,000 annually vs. 27% earning more), those with no children living at home (34% vs. 24% of those with kids), and those employed part-time (47% vs. 25% of those working full-time).
Online training has become more popular and is especially common among adults working in professional sales (41% vs. 22% of retail sales associates and 8% of manufacturing employees).
Those most likely to have received strictly classroom training include manufacturing employees (29%), call center employees (38%), and financial advisors (29%) – especially in comparison to those employees working in professional sales (10%) and retail (11%) who say the same thing.
“As the training industry is producing new and innovative technology to empower employees, it is alarming to see that companies aren’t embracing new approaches to learning as part of their overall strategy,” observes Carol Leaman, chief executive officer of Axonify.
Leaman also stresses that a one-size-fits-all approach to training is no longer necessary and the
individualized approach help workers develop individual strengths.
In terms of their personal training needs, 73% of logistics employees are among the least likely to stress the importance of having the ability to access information anytime and anywhere that is needed to do their job.
Fewer logistics employees also rate having the opportunity to apply their training on the job in real life as being important to them (73%) versus at least 80% from all other professions who say the same thing.
When thinking of formal workplace training, an overwhelming 93% of employees are most likely to emphasize the importance of training that’s easy to complete and understand, personalized and relevant (91%), and engaging and fun (90%).
Nearly as many say it is important to them to be able to access the training information anytime, anywhere they need it to help do their jobs (89%), while another 88% say the same thing about having the opportunity to apply their training obtained on the job in real life.
Looking more closely at those who have received training, 57% see their training as being extremely or very effective in helping them succeed at work, although 43% say the opposite, stating that the workplace training that they have received is somewhat, not very or not at all effective in helping them be successful on the job.
Those most likely rate their workplace training as being effective include people working in professional sales (65%) and manufacturing (71%), while among retail sales associates effectiveness ratings for training drop to 35%.
Those who think workplace training is not effective most likely to say it’s boring, not fun or engaging (34%), lacks regular/frequent trainings (29%), and provides too much information at once (27%).