A stone in the pond that is not new: “American companies spend enormous sums on training their employees – 160 billion dollars in the United States alone and nearly 356 billion worldwide in 2015 – but they do not get a good return on their investment”, three experts already warned six years ago in an article published in the Harvard Business Review. An American specificity? In 2022, in France, just over 4.1 million employees will have been trained for a total of nearly 31 billion euros. The unit cost per trained participant amounts to 622 euros (22 hours on average) and 28,706 euros for long retraining courses (962 hours on average) which benefited 19,000 employees (France Compétence, 2023 report). 77% of French people trust professional training to secure their future (Afpa/Ipsos, 2017).
However, the first distortion: 21% of new French managers find their training boring, 14% consider it neither clear nor well structured (2023 survey from the collaborative training platform 360learning.com).
Too much theory, not enough practice
For their part, “employers have less and less confidence in current training methods. Why? Because current training is incomplete and the return on investment it generates remains minimal”, points out the training consultancy Microdoing in an article published in 2021. Two problems are put forward: the lack of improvement in the skills of learners following their training and the absence of follow-up. There is neither analysis of the manager’s needs in his organization, nor tailor-made training based on the reality experienced on the ground. “Whatever the method, and statistics prove it, only 10% of the elements seen are retained at the end of training. We rise to 20% when we discuss this new knowledge with our peers. But the Learning is only complete when we apply, in a concrete and usual way, the knowledge we have acquired,” continues Microdoing.
Theory without practice is not operational. No progress report, no specifications, no external or internal referent to verify that the implementation is correct. Thus, a manager who practices micromanagement and follows feedback training risks losing authority if this transformation, although positive, is not explained and does not concern the entire department. Furthermore, the training of certain managers is intended to comply with an injunction from their hierarchy or the HR department to justify a promotion. According to the Harvard Business Review“in most cases, training does not lead to better organizational performance, because people quickly revert to their old ways of doing things” – only 12% of employees apply the skills learned in training programs.
The gap between investment and feeling is abysmal
However, training is considered an economic development tool for the company. What about the employee? Some enthusiasm may fade, to the extent that the training policies put in place by French companies seem less oriented towards securing the trajectories of their employees than supporting their growth and performance. Furthermore, “in 2015, French companies stood out for their sustained investment in training, mainly in the form of courses and internships, but were lagging behind in on-the-job training [NDLR : 23,5 % en 2015 contre 24,5 % en 2021]which are also developing rapidly in Europe”, underlines a study published by the Center for Studies and Research on Qualifications (Céreq) in 2024.
Another hiatus: 67% of companies invest in technical and job-specific training (Céreq) while 41% of managers think their training is too general and not specific enough (360learning survey cited above). The gap between investment and feeling is abysmal. Additionally, 23% of new managers do not feel they are receiving training when it would benefit them most. Too early or too late. Latest dysfunction: “it is neither the content nor the approach of this training that poses a problem, but the management of companies, which often puts them in place without any real change in its organization. Hence a gap between what the employee learns and what he observes, which can make him indifferent, demotivated or cynical”, noted in 2016 the Harvard Business Review. Or envious: 30% of French managers say they have not received management training (Robert Walters study, July 2024).