L&D budgets to grow in 2020: LinkedIn

According to a recent report by LinkedIn, ‘2020 Workplace Learning Report’, more than a third of L&D professionals globally are expecting their budgets to grow year over year- shifting from Instructor-Led Training (ILT) to online learning—and executive buy-in continues to build. In fact, 72 percent of L&D professionals in India expect budgets to grow over the year.

The survey which was conducted across countries like United States, Canada, India, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, France, Benelux, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland.

According to the LinkedIn’s last year report, 2019 was the breakout year of the talent developer. It was the landmark year that learning leaders finally had the budget and executive buy-in to supercharge their programs and become even more strategic partners to the business.   In 2020, L&D budgets continue to grow—and shift to online learning—while executive buy-in remains strong. Talent developers are still laser focused on meeting the business needs of today by driving learner engagement, activating managers, and measuring the impact of learning. Simultaneously, they are looking ahead, preparing for the upskilling and reskilling revolution coming in the next 3-5 years, when digital transformation and automation are expected to have a greater impact on the workforce globally.

Some of the key trends emerged from the report are:

• L&D budgets continue to grow and shift to online learning
• L&D has executive buy-in, but championship is the next big opportunity
• Measuring the impact of learning is the top focus area for L&D in 2020
• Digital transformation is catalyzing an upskilling and reskilling revolution

The top three challenges faced by learning and development professionals in an Organization are - getting managers to make learning a priority for their teams (53 percent), creating a culture of learning(43 percent) and increasing employee engagement in learning (36 percent).

The report also found that 40 percent of L&D professionals mentioned that “enabling self-directed learning with online learning solutions” is the key area of focus for them in the next 12 months. 60 percent of them said “AI and machine learning to drive more accurate personalization” would significantly impact online learning in the 5 years. 59 percent of L&D professionals plan to close critical skills gaps in 2020 by reskilling their employees to help close technology skills gaps.