For the 10th consecutive year, the Brazilian Association of Training and Development conducted a study of the state of the training and development industry in 2013. A key finding from the study is that investments in T&D in Brazil have increased by 6 percent from 2012 to 2013 and the predicted rate of growth in 2014 is 9 percent.

The study this year revealed several major themes in the field.

T&D as a talent engagement and retention strategy. On average, professionals spend 45 hours each year on training, and 33 percent of the 193 companies surveyed had provided training for all their employees last year. The annual T&D investment in 2013 was US$2,150 per employee.

Leadership development still is a priority. For 77 percent of responding companies, leadership development is mandatory in 2014. The top five areas of training this year are leadership (81 percent), communication (58 percent), customer service (39 percent), safety (22 percent), and IT (17 percent).

Proving the impact of T&D is essential. In 2013, 59 percent of companies conducted Level 1 evaluations of T&D initiatives; 27 percent conducted Level 2 evaluations; 11 percent conducted Level 3 evaluations; and 9 percent conducted Level 4 evaluations.

Use of external suppliers. Last year 84 percent of organizations used external T&D providers.

More use of technology, including social media and mobile learning. Twenty-one percent of T&D investments are related to technology-enabled learning. Twenty-seven percent of surveyed organizations plan to invest in mobile learning (compared with 22 percent in 2011 and 25 percent in 2012).