GoodPractice Survey Identifies Wide Workplace Training Gap Between Younger And Older Managers

March 17, 2010 - PRLog -- GoodPractice, a leading provider of tookits for managers and leaders, has published results of a survey in a new report entitled ‘How managers learn (in their own words)’. The report reveals a wide gap between the amount of training provided for younger and older employees in UK workplaces and how more informal methods of training are increasingly favoured by managers.

The survey conducted by ComRes questioned a representative sample of 206 UK business leaders and managers working across all sectors about the different methods they employ to acquire skills in the workplace and how effective they found each approach.  The results reveal that younger managers receive a disproportionate share of training opportunities, be it external/internal training and coaching or e-learning than their older colleagues.  47% of 25-34 year age group managers received training at least once a month, compared to 15% for 45-54 year olds and just 13% for 55-64 year olds.  In the 45-54 year age group, 63% received training only twice a year and 20% less than once a year.

The survey also revealed that UK leaders and managers find informal chats, internal training and on-the-job instruction to be the most effective methods of gaining information when facing a work place challenge.  83% of those surveyed stated informal chats were very or fairly effective, followed by 77% rating internal training, and 76% on-the-job instruction, as very or fairly effective.  Formal training is also still well regarded with 68% of respondents giving a rating of very or fairly effective.

The nature of training is also changing rapidly as managers pro-actively seek out information to help build their skills.  40% of respondents are regularly using search engines such as Google to find information to support their job, with just 17% regularly using internal on-line training resources and intranets.  Managers surveyed also found information from search engines more effective than internal resources.  Overall, 80% of respondents found the use of online resources helped them to be more effective in the work place.

Peter Casebow, Chief Executive Officer, GoodPractice, commented on the results:
“Our survey clearly shows a disparity between younger and older managers in the overall amount of training received. In the main, this can be explained with younger managers needing more training at the start of their careers, but more could be done to support the types of informal learning that the survey identifies as being very effective.”

“Today’s managers and leaders are pro-active. They seek out information and if this is not being provided effectively by their employers – many managers are turning to search engines such as Google.  Solutions such as online toolkits can address these issues by providing high quality, researched internal resources without the need to spend precious time trawling the internet. They allow access to a progressive, experience appropriate, online  resource for all managers and leaders.”

‘How managers learn (in their own words)’ http://goodpractice.com/white-papers/The-Learning-and-Per... is available for download free from the GoodPractice web site.

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GoodPractice provides toolkits for over 200 of the UK’s leading organisations. As the leading provider of on-demand learning in the UK, more than 1m managers and leaders rely on GoodPractice to help them improve personal and team performance at work.