Because External Courses Are Offered To A Broad Student Group, They Can

Because external courses are offered to a broad student group, they can provide quality trainers at a lower cost (CIPD 2004). Most universities have some type of classroom offering in management, business, or retail subjects available in a lifetime-learning scheme. Similarly, courses are designed and offered by private training companies, sometimes at the company site, but also often in hotels or conference centres where a number of smaller companies have the option to send staff (Spearhead 2005). Unions both offer generic courses for members, and are partnering with various employers to offer training programmes. These typically include study in basic maths and English in addition to job-related skills, which is important, as an estimated thirty-five percent of British workers are in need of remedial work in one or more basic subjects (Kent 2005). For example, at Littlewoods, an intiative originally created through the Union Learning Fund has grown to include the provision for an on-site learning centre managed by a steering group made up of representatives and the employer (Kent 2005). The training is not of great cost to the company, although is has given up space for the initiative. Technology has been provided by a local college, and employees are not paid for their time taking courses (Kent 2005). The centre provides a wide variety of training offerings, including instruction in basic skills.

Training Frequency and Duration
Training frequency and offering also vary from organisation to organisation and sector to sector. In general, however, seventy-two percent of workers receive some form of training each year (CIPD 2002).
Most businesses provided specific provision for training in their corporate policies, including how often and what types would be made available, and at whose cost. Sixty-three percent of all employers in business (not just those in the retail sector) had a training plan of some such kind, while fifty-three to eighty-one percent had specific budget allocations for training, depending on business sector (Jameson 2000, CIPD 2004). External courses and conferences were most likely to be covered in training budgets and plans, with external trainers and books and manuals a close second at eighty-five and eighty-two percent, respectively (CIPD 2004). Training programmes were more likely in larger organisations, of whom almost all had a plan or scheme of some kind, and less prevalent in small firms, of whom only twenty-eight percent had some sort of training provision (Jameson 2000). Most companies recognized the need for ongoing training, even if they did not make provision for it. New technologies and organisations require continuous learning (Acemoglu and Pischke 1999, F112).