As the days get warmer and the summer vacations begin, ASTD Research starts working on the annual State of the Industry report. Each year at this time we open up the survey to collect 13 key efficiency and expenditure data points, as well as data on content distribution and delivery methods that will provide the industry with valuable benchmarking data.
Last year, we included data from 475 organizations in the final report. This year, we hope to increase the number of respondents and have the largest response rate ever. As we grow the number of respondents, we have more reliable data and the ability to break out data by industry and organization size. Having the opportunity to report more targeted data gives organizations a clearer picture of how their organization benchmarks against similar organizations.
For example, in the 2013 report, direct learning expenditure for all respondents (n=475) was $1,195. However, for those industries with enough responses to report, we saw that manufacturing (n=38) averaged $731 compared to those in the professional, scientific, and technical services (n=40), which averaged $1,913.
These manufacturing and professional, scientific, and technical services are two quite different industries and their direct learning expenditures are dissimilar. As you can imagine, having this data available by industry provides valuable insights for learning professionals in those fields. Having more participating organizations in the report can help ASTD Research make more of this type of data available.
I encourage everyone to find the person in their organization who manages the training budget and ask them to participate. The final report is free to ASTD members, and each year ASTD Research staff presents the findings on a webcast—giving attendees the chance to ask questions and hear from the report authors.
ASTD Research is here to help and is happy to answer any questions you might have about the survey. You can email your questions to [email protected]. More information on the survey and a link to download the 2013 report can be found here.
Help us publish the best report, and send in your data!
