American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) publishes fourth annual workplace trends report and State of the Industry Report

Citation

(2000), "American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) publishes fourth annual workplace trends report and State of the Industry Report", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 32 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/ict.2000.03732eab.005

American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) publishes fourth annual workplace trends report and State of the Industry Report

American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) publishes fourth annual workplace trends report and State of the Industry Report

Keywords: Training, Development, Industry, USA

The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) has released its fourth annual report on the trends that affect workplace learning and performance improvement. The Society identified eight issues that hold great significance in today's changing workplace, and published a short chapter on each.

"ASTD is leading the way in identifying issues that affect the way we live and work", said Mark Van Buren, ASTD's Director of Research. "In this annual report, we offer employers and employees unparalleled insights into the critical forces shaping the workplace of today and tomorrow."

The issues cover three broad categories including: the changing competitive landscape; new rules for thriving and achieving growth; and the emerging requirements for governance and public policy. Each issue is summarised in The ASTD Trends Watch Executive Summary, and then covered in full in a longer, more comprehensive report.

The issues are:

1. 1.

   Changing competitive landscape:

   • •

     demography is destiny: population shifts will transform the twenty-first century workplace;

   • •

     winning the war for talent;

   • •

     learning a new game, technically speaking.

2. 2.

   New rules for thriving and achieving growth:

   • •

     cultural due diligence;

   • •

     leadership at all levels: the basics.

3. 3.

   Emerging requirements for governance and public policy:

   • •

     measuring and reporting on intellectual capital: the case for collective action and standards;

   • •

     income inequality and its implications;

   • •

     public policy affecting workforce development.

In addition to the Trends Report, ASTD also released The 2000 ASTD State of the Industry Report. This highlights the results of ASTD's annual Benchmarking Survey which collects data from many different types of organisations on the nature of their training expenditures and practices. The report also provides comparisons with data from previous year's surveys to assess how the training industry may be changing. In addition, it highlights data from the Training Investment Leaders. Data from this group are used throughout the report as an indication of what it takes for an organisation to separate itself from the pack and make learning a central focus of organisation-wide efforts to stay competitive and deliver results.

Key findings of The 2000 Report are:

• •

  spending on employer-provided training continues to grow, but at a slower pace

• •

  growth in payments to outside firms is down

• •

  use of learning technologies is levelling off.

The report found that firms in the health-care and government sectors provided training to the highest percentage of eligible employees. The trade, technology, and transportation and public utilities sectors provided training to the lowest percentage of eligible employees.

Further details are available from the American Society for Training and Development, 1640 King Street, Box 1443, Alexandria, Virginia 22313-2043, USA. Tel: (703) 683 8100; Fax: (703) 683 8103; Web site: http://www.astd.org