Current research indicates that 20% of learning is formal and 80% is informal, yet 80% of training budgets are spent on formal learning and only 20% on informal learning.
According to Don Clark in Big Dog, Little Dog: The True Cost of Informal Learning, the trouble with this research is that although the comparative percentages for formal and informal learning are correct, information on what is actually spent on each is based on weak research.
He says that even if all the numbers were correct, what the organization spends is more important than what the learning department spends. And he poses an even more important question—if informal learning is so efficient, why does it need training budget support?
A report coming out of an ASTD research project supported by the U. S. Department of Labor states that employer investment in workplace training is about $210B annually. Of that amount …
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