More bosses are giving their support to staff development, according to a survey by employment law firm, Peninsula and financial recruitment specialists, Portfolio Payroll.

Their survey of 856 employers revealed that:

• 79% offer their employees the opportunity to gain further qualifications compared to 64% in 2004


• 84% of these companies allow their employees time away from the office (within working hours) to train


• 91% believe that employee training will be beneficial to the company in the long term.

The investment seems to be paying off. Of the 643 employees that were polled 82% said bosses who provide support for work-related qualifications are providing a positive benefit while 76% said that training provisions is a consideration for joining a new company.

Peter Done, Managing Director of Peninsula commented: “Investing in staff training can be seen as a recognised way of improving motivation, performance and staff retention within the workplace. Qualifications designed for specific industries can be geared to argument a trainee's knowledge and ability within the company.”

But warns Done, there can be disadvantages especially when staff get poached.

“An employee who has been studying for a qualification can then obviously apply to other jobs that are able to pay more money.”

According to Done, a ‘reclaiming of training’ clause can help bosses to recover training costs if an employee leaves the business within a certain time-scale.

We would like to hear your views on clauses of this kind - can they be enforced? What is a reasonable time-scale?