A person with 25 years experience in Learning and Development posted some statistics on LinkedIn recently. It encouraged me to share my frustrations with you.
Not so cheap
Training is one of the first casualties of a tight budget. In South Africa, companies often pay lip service to training needs by giving access to cheap Udemy-style courses.
Online self-paced training will always be much cheaper than instructor-led training. But that comes at a hidden cost.
Research suggests that only 5% to 15% of people complete these courses. This is the dirty secret of the online training industry. There are other scary statistics – like the number of people who register for a course and never start it.
How many people click through content without absorbing it? I’ve seen claims that this could be as high as 73%. So, in practice, this training is a waste of money for most people.
As they say in Afrikaans: “Goedkoop is duurkoop”. That translates literally as “cheap is expensive”, although it sounds trite in English.
RTO principles
There are many reasons companies pushed for employees to return to the office. One of those is that the interaction will improve morale and collaboration.
So why do those same companies opt for online courses with NO interaction? Instructor-led training provides live interaction, and essential Q and A sessions. And don’t forget the benefits of hearing the comments from other delegates.
Go local
Things could be better in South Africa. The economy sucks. The job market is worse. Employee morale is low. Swerving for pot holes is the new proof of sober driving. Another substation mysteriously went up in flames. The list goes on.
I can’t fix any of that. But I can tell you that your developers will be happier and more productive if they get good training.
And I have to ask: Why send money out of the country to companies like Udemy and LinkedIn? This is about more than earning BBBEE points. It’s about buying local to promote our own economy. Because every bit counts towards a better South Africa.
I’d love to hear your comments.