Almost half of all small companies carry out no formal staff training, according to research carried out by the independent Small Business Research Trust (SBRT).
According to the report, the smaller the business the less likely it is to offer any external or internal formal training. The survey, which did not count informal on-the-job training, found that only 40% of micro companies (nine or fewer staff) provided formal training compared to 69% of small companies (10-49 employees) and 87% of medium-sized companies (50-249 staff).
The main reasons for failing to invest in staff training were a lack of information on skills initiatives, given by 16% of micro firms, 16% of small businesses and 10% of medium-sized companies, employing staff who did not need training (20%; 7%; 3%) and problems covering for staff who were out of the office on courses (14%; 17%; 27%). Micro firms tended to find this less of a problem as they relied mainly on in-house training, the research claimed.
“Time and money are rare commodities in most small businesses so the prospect of having to spend potentially thousands of pounds on training often makes companies unwilling to consider it,” said Simon Wainwright, head of business banking at HSBC, which sponsored the research.
“However, small businesses are an important part of the economy and increasing their capacity to learn and develop means they will be more resilient, able to grow quicker and create employment,” he suggested.
The survey also revealed that 70% of companies were not aware of government training schemes such as Sector Skills Councils or the Train2Gain scheme. Just 17% of micro companies were aware of either scheme and this only increased among medium-sized firms to 29% and 40% respectively.
“There must be serious concern that such a small proportion of small businesses seem to be aware of the opportunities for training provision now being backed by significant government funding through Train2Gain and other initiatives,” said Brian Wolfe, chairman of SBRT.
“There is a real danger that larger businesses – with the infrastructure to access such provision – will reap most of the benefit, leaving small business requirements unrecognised,” he added.
