The impact of investors in people on employer-provided training, the equality of training provision and the ‘training apartheid’ phenomenon

This article draws on data from WERS 2004 to provide a follow-up to previous research using WERS 98, which evaluated the relationship between Investors in People (IiP) and training. This follow-up is undertaken in order to consider whether the Standard, which was revised in 2000, is now more effective in ensuring that recognised workplaces genuinely engage in training activity. An evaluation is also undertaken of the Standard's new aim of ensuring equal opportunities with regard to training provision. In the event, the analysis demonstrates that the proportion of employees in IiP workplaces that have not received formal training did not change between 1998 and 2004, but employees were now less likely to disagree that managers at their workplaces encourage people to develop their skills. However, the analysis finds greater evidence of inequality of training provision in IiP workplaces than in non-IiP workplaces and that the Standard neither boosts training levels for typically disadvantaged employee groups, nor overcomes the ‘training apartheid’ phenomenon

Investors in people and training in the British SME sector

Successive UK governments have encouraged small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to pursue Investors in People (IiP) recognition in order to increase levels of employer-provided training in the sector. Using data from the 1998 and 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Surveys, this article reports the extent of change in the proportion of workplaces in small, medium and large firms with IiP recognition and assesses the relationship between IiP and training activity. The analysis reveals an increase in the proportion of workplaces in medium-sized firms with recognition but no increase in the proportion of workplaces in small or large firms with recognition. With regard to the relationship between IiP and training activity, a positive association is found in large firms where both managers/ professionals and non-managers are concerned. In medium-sized firms, however, IiP is only associated with higher levels of non-management training, and in small firms, it is only associated with higher levels of management/professional training