Canada’s smallest businesses lead the way in employee training, investing $1,907 per employee on average each year, says a Canadian Federation of Independent Business’ (CFIB) report.
These findings challenge the view that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) — those with between 2 and 499 employees — are slower to invest in training than their larger counterparts, which spend $1,713 per worker.
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SMEs put $9 billion a year into informal on-the-job training. In total, small and medium businesses spend $14 billion a year on training. Informal training is offered by 90%, and is done without any government credits or grants.
Inexperienced workers make up 18% of new hires in SMEs, versus 9% at larger companies. SMEs invest an average of $4,243 training each new, inexperienced employee.
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Although 85% of SMEs say it’s their responsibility to train new workers, 60% fear employees will receive training and leave.
CFIB is calling on governments to offer a new training tax credit recognizing informal training.