Learning activities move in-house

Budgets might be tight, but employers at the CIPD’s HRD conference and exhibition last month showed that, with a little imagination, there’s no need for learning and development to suffer in the downturn.American Express was one such organisation, having stopped all external training programmes to deliver low-cost and highly targeted talent development in-house. Chris Parkinson, the company’s organisational effectiveness and talent director, told the conference that, as a result of squeezed budgets, HR stopped all projects that were not core to supplying customer service. He said the “breathing space” that was created was “one of the most liberating things I have done”.