How to Train Your Team for Zero Budget – The 2024 Edit

Research conducted recently by Dutch recruitment experts, Randstad, found that 27 percent of workers in the UK plan to change their role or employer in the next 6 months, an increase of 3 per cent from 2023, and the highest percentage since pre-pandemic levels. Employees are looking for engaging and supportive working environments, complete with training and development opportunities.

With Procurement and Supply Chain professionals requiring an ever-changing set of skills to carry out their roles to a high level, it’s crucial for organisations to offer training and development, or face seeing their top talent walk out the door. 

However, where many organisations struggle is in finding budgets to make these training wants and needs a reality. Organisations need resources and money to train new and existing employees and, unfortunately, as development needs have increased over the past decade, the same cannot be said for training budgets.

The Budget Problem

Nearly two-thirds of UK organisations have seen budgets remain the same or even decrease in the past 12 months. The average cost for, or investment in, training in the UK is around £1,500 per employee, which is largely in line with both Europe (€1,441 per employee) and Australia (AUD $1,334), figures which have been largely static for the past 5 years.

In the USA last year, spending per employee on training dropped by 71 percent in large companies by 71 percent and 10% in medium-sized companies compared to 2022 levels. And although spend did go up for small companies, overall average training budgets fell.

If this is to be the pattern for the coming years, and with costs for training also on the rise, what options do organisations have to provide training and development for their employees?

Making the Most of Low (or Zero) Budgets

There are a number of options available for teams operating on a small (or non-existent) training budget. The trick is to know where to look to find high quality content, and then how to make the most of it. Here are some of the best options:

1. Online eLearning

There are a plethora of organisations and providers who have free to access content on their websites, only requiring you to register with a name and email. If you’re looking for quality Procurement and Supply Chain content, the following websites are a very good place to start:

• Procurious – the ‘Resources’ section on the website has a great range of content including videos, podcasts, whitepapers, webinars, reports and other articles, all put together with the help of industry experts from around the world.
• Alison – free to access Procurement courses from industry experts. There are fewer options, but the quality is high.
• Coursera – a similar set up to Alison, with content provided by some well-renowned American universities, with no fee to join.
• edX & MOOC – an extensive list of professional development resources, from a variety of providers, again with no fee to become a member.
• Udemy – over 200,000 online video courses on every topic imaginable, with more added every month. There is a cost, but $360 per year will get unlimited access for a team of up to 20 people.

In addition to these options, both CIPS and ISM have content available on their websites for members of the associations. There is a higher annual fee for membership, but both these options can provide a route to more formal education and professional development if you were to choose this.

2. Continuous Personal Development (CPD)

You would normally associate Continuous Personal Development (CPD) with professional associations, but increasingly CPD is being recognised whenever it is delivered by a trained individual or someone who is considered a subject matter expert.

There is a good chance you have a number of offers for CPD sessions from your supply chain and this is something you should absolutely take advantage of. These sessions rarely come with a cost attached, apart from your time and a venue, as suppliers look at these as an opportunity to share learning as well as do a bit of promotion.

Getting suppliers to deliver these sessions not only helps to build stronger relationships, but also means your team is getting targeted training from the experts on the goods and services you are looking to source and use.

3. On-the-Job Training

On-the-Job training may be a less formal approach, but it’s increasingly used to get people up and running in new roles. In fact, research suggests that the majority of workers believe that on-the-job training and apprenticeships are actually more valuable for learners than more formal education and degrees.

There are certain areas in which this approach is more applicable (probably best to avoid unofficial training on key systems if you can to make sure you don’t pick up bad habits and unofficial workarounds!), but your colleagues and peers can be a veritable goldmine of information.

Sessions can be delivered by members of the Procurement team, covering core parts of the job, key areas of focus such as Sustainability and Social Value, or learning specific to the organisation. Alternatively, they can be from stakeholders in other departments talking about their roles, how they interact with Procurement and how to build strong relationships. 

This is all with the added benefit of being able to do this in person or online, making use of networks – it’s just up to you to ask!

4. Industry Events

Professional Associations, like CIPS and ISM, run annual events around the world and there are many other bodies linked to the Procurement and Supply Chain profession who do likewise. These can range from small group sessions specific to a region, to national conferences or congresses. 

They do often have a cost attached for tickets or travel, but are frequently worth it for the sessions, masterclasses and learning that are available. To keep the costs down, look for ones where you can get costs subsidised (or even free ones), and pick the ones that have sessions and information most relevant to your role.

Check out the seminar lists in advance so you know who and what you want to see, and remember that they come with a great networking opportunity too.

5. Read, Listen and Learn

Over the past few years the volume of written and recorded content on Procurement and Supply Chain has gone through the roof. Information has become much more accessible and, when it comes to books and podcasts in the profession, there is a wealth of new content that you can pick up and put down as you need to.

If you are looking for some hints on where to start, we have a couple of great articles on Procurious on the ‘Must-Read Books’ for Procurement in 2024, as well as a list of the top Podcasts that should be on your download list. You can pick and choose what interests you most and it’s a great way to combine your learning and make your daily commute more interesting!

Do you want to offer your team more training, but lack a decent budget to make it happen? Learn how to get more for your money, or even for no money, when it comes to learning and development.