Your people are one of your organisation’s greatest assets but are you investing enough in developing them?
Workplace training can do much more than teach employees how to perform a particular task. Research has connected workforce development with productivity, employee retention, confidence, skills development, job satisfaction and the ability of organisations to adapt to change.
Australian employers appear to recognise its value. Recent analysis from the Australian Industry Group’s Centre for Education and Training found that participation in work-related training was above the long-term average in both 2023 and 2024. In fact, there were almost eight hours of work-related training for every 1,000 hours worked in both years, the highest ratio in close to a decade.
So, what could workplace training mean for your organisation? Here are some numbers every employer should know.
86% of employees’ training is funded by their employer
Workplace training is increasingly becoming an employer investment rather than something employees are expected to fund or go after on their own.
‘Of those employees undertaking work-related training, 86 out of every 100 report undertaking training that was fully employer sponsored.’ Australian Industry Group’s analysis also found that employer sponsorship has remained consistently higher over the past five years.
Employers aren’t only paying for courses. They’re increasingly making space for learning during the working day. ‘In 2024, about 9 in 10 individuals that undertook work-related training report having done so in paid work time.’
The message for employers is clear: investing in your people’s development is increasingly part of doing business in Australia.
$3.7 billion in paid training time
The scale of this investment is significant.
Australian Industry Group estimates that Australian employers invested ‘…at least $3.7 billion in paid training hours alone. The actual figure is likely higher, with the upper bound of the estimate being over $7 billion.’
Rather than seeing training time simply as time away from work, forward-thinking organisations recognise the potential longer-term value of building greater capability within their team.
Workplace training is great for productivity and more
Productivity is important, but it isn’t the only way workplace training can create value.
Research into employer-sponsored training in the transport and logistics sector found that the benefits extended beyond output per labour hour. Reported benefits included higher skills and performance, improved safety, greater job satisfaction and confidence, reduced absenteeism, stronger employee loyalty and commitment, leadership development, operational efficiencies and cost savings (Chhetri et al, 2018).
And the study Calculating the Economic Viability of Corporate Trainings (Traditional & eLearning) using Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR) and Return On Investment (ROI) shows that ‘…a trained team produces better results than does an untrained one…’
This is important because the return on training isn’t always captured by a single productivity measure.
What we mean by that is that a more confident employee may communicate better, or a skilled manager may resolve problems earlier. Or even a better-trained team may work more safely or efficiently. Over time, these improvements can add up to a stronger organisation.
Employee retention is important
Retaining good people in an organisation is a challenge. Once you’ve hired them, you want to make sure you are doing what you can to keep them. ‘90% of organisations list training as their top employee retention strategy, showcasing its role in fostering loyalty and growth…’
LinkedIn’s 2025 Workplace Learning Report found that 88% of organisations surveyed were concerned about employee retention, with providing learning opportunities identified as the number one retention strategy among respondents.
Employees don’t necessarily want to remain in exactly the same role, with exactly the same capabilities, indefinitely. Providing opportunities to develop new skills can demonstrate that there is room for them to grow within your organisation.
And when employees leave, businesses don’t just lose a person. They can also lose valuable skills, experience and organisational knowledge.
A skills crisis
Is your workforce equipped with the skills your organisation will need tomorrow, not just today?
According to LinkedIn’s 2025 Workplace Learning Report, ‘…nearly half of learning and talent development professionals see a skills crisis, with 49% agreeing, “My executives are concerned that employees do not have the right skills to execute our business strategy.”
That matters in an environment where technology, AI, customer expectations, regulations and ways of working continue to change.
Workplace training, such as a Leadership Development Program or Undertaking Project Program gives organisations an opportunity to develop capability within the workforce they already have, helping employees expand their skills while retaining valuable organisational and industry knowledge.
USD 60 million on leadership training
Promoting a technically capable employee into a leadership position doesn’t automatically give them the skills to lead people. Leaders are developed, not born. Communication, conflict management, decision-making, adaptability, team building and providing clear direction are all capabilities that can be developed.
It is recognised as an important workplace factor worldwide, with organisations spending around USD 60 billion annually on leadership development alone.
Investing in emerging and existing leaders can have benefits that extend across an entire team and company.
The key to effective workplace training
Effective workplace training should be relevant and reflect both the needs of the employee and the objectives of the organisation.
That might mean developing leadership capability within an emerging management team, improving workplace health and safety knowledge, strengthening project management capability or creating a customised training program around a particular organisational need.
At Time Education & Training, we work with organisations to identify their workforce development needs and deliver practical corporate training solutions designed around real workplaces and fully customised and applicable to your business.
