Due to the recession, many people are hesitant to make investments in L&D solutions. That’s because recessions mean budget cuts.
So what can you do? We suggest you start by reviewing your HR stack and programs. Here’s what we think should stay, as well as what should go.
What’s Got To Go
If there’s a budget issue and you’re assessing your tools, consider cutting the more expensive tools and sessions. This could include coaching, tools like LinkedIn Learning, and other similar online learning platforms.
Why? Because on top of being expensive, these initiatives are 1:1, meaning they can be hard—or even impossible—to scale. The same goes for expensive in-person training courses, facilitated leadership boot camps, and similar programs. These take so much more time and effort from members of your team; not only do they require more coordination from you, but they also require so much more out of your people.
What Should Stay
As the National Mortgage Professional notes, in times of massive change and unpredictability, there is one thing that we can rely on time and time again: Creativity to spark innovation. As they put it, “In times of hardship, creativity and innovation can thrive. One creative idea you can use to help navigate the current landscape and turn adversity into opportunity is to foster mentorship.”
What’s great about mentoring programs is—unlike those 1:1 initiatives—you can support a larger group of people using assets you already have: your own people and their knowledge!
And don’t worry, there’s no reason to be afraid that you’ll be wasting money on something that “isn’t proven”. Mentoring isn’t just effective, it actually amplifies your other L&D efforts while maximising your L&D budget. In fact, companies that offer comprehensive training programs like a mentoring program have a 24% higher profit margin than those that spend less on training and a 218% higher income per employee than companies that don’t.
And it’s not just good for your business, it’s good for your people too. According to a study by Wharton:
- 25% of employees—including 28% of mentors—who took part in a mentoring program had a salary grade change, compared with 5% of employees who did not.
- Mentors were promoted six times more often and mentees were promoted five times more often than those not in the program.
- Retention rates were much higher for mentees (72%) and mentors (69%) than for employees who did not participate in the mentoring program (49%).
In Conclusion
Maximising your L&D budget is what matters when leadership wants to pull on the purse strings, so you have to consider what gets you more bang for your buck.
Mentoring software has always been good value for money and gives you great ROI. But not only is mentoring software the best value for money vs. things like courses and coaching sessions, it’s also never been more affordable!
Learn how cost-effective mentoring is vs. other HR tech and programs. Get started with Mentorloop Pro today.
