87% Businesses still want face-to-face training

New survey* reveals how COVID-19 has changed business’ training priorities
Whilst 79% of businesses report their staff training has impacted by coronavirus, the pandemic hasn’t changed things as much as you might think.
We surveyed more than 100 businesses to find out what impact the lockdown had had on health and safety training. Read the results below.

Did COVID halt training completely?
It appears not. Although 79% said COVID-19 had interrupted their training to some extent, 30% of businesses stated this was because they couldn’t find a suitable training provider to deliver training during the lockdown, with 23% quoting staff not being comfortable travelling to training venues as a key reason for altering plans.

What are businesses’ appetite for training now?
Well the picture looks promising. A huge 80% said they are likely to book training in the next 6 months, with 75% of those saying they would be booking the same or more training going forwards.

So what things are businesses now prioritising?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, of those who said they needed different ways to deliver training in the future, online learning programmes was the strong preference (45%). And of those, 75% quoted needing to reduce social contact as the main reason for this.
However, a whopping 87% said there was still a need for face to face training, quoting online not being as effective for the type of training they require and 56% highlighting that practical training and assessments cannot be completed online due to the need to be assessed for competency.

Stuart Hoult, CEO of MRS Training & Rescue said: “The results show that businesses still value face to face training but that the market for online training alternatives is growing. Our Live Online Medium Risk Confined Space course is our first venture into this market so we will continue to trial this and look at further online alternatives in the future.”

*MRS Training & Rescue conducted a survey of their customers in July 2020. 103 customers completed the survey and full details can be found at https://www.mrsl.co.uk/news/covid-19-how-it-changed-training-survey-results.

Leeming Lane South
Mansfield Woodhouse
Mansfield
Notts
NG19 9AQ

MRS Training and Rescue has been in the business of keeping people safe for over one hundred years. Established at the turn of the 20th century to respond to emergencies from the UK mining industry, MRS was nationalised in 1947 along with the coal industry, becoming part of the National Coal Board.
Known then as Mines Rescue Service, we re-entered the private sector in 1996 to provide the “Escape and Rescue from Mines Scheme” required by the mining regulations. At that point we diversified by using our existing expertise to provide health and safety training and industrial rescue cover. Today, rebranded as MRS Training and Rescue, we are a leading authority in confined space and at height technical rescue and provide fully accredited health and safety training courses throughout the UK.

This release was published on openPR.