According to a study conducted by Hewitt and Larson, many supervisors feel that they lack the skills that are required for the position that they are in and that they have been promoted purely on the basis of their impressive direct care skills. The likely reason for the same is considered to be that supervisors feel that the training programs being offered by their employer/s are not sufficient to make them fully efficient at their supervisory job.
In order to dive deeper into the same, we conducted an analysis, using data collected from WageIndicator Salary Survey for the years 2016, 2017 and 2018. We selected 10 countries from the survey (as observable in the map) and compared training given by employer and self-paid training depending on whether or not the employee holds a supervisory position. Both the training variables were divided into 6 possible categories based on the duration of training, namely None, 1-2 days, 3-6 days, 1-2 weeks, 1-2 months and 2 months or more.
It can be observed from our analysis, that among the selected countries, Sri Lanka ranks the highest when it comes to the percentage of its employees that received any form of training from the employer. 92.44% of employees in Sri Lanka who were surveyed had received some or the other form of training from the employer, followed by Portugal with 91.10%. On the other hand, Kazakhstan was found to rank the lowest with only 62.81% of its employees receiving training from the employer.
While conducting a similar analysis for self-paid training, the data suggested that Costa Rica and Mexico have the largest percentage of their employees paying for their training, that is, 96.61% and 95.79% respectively. In contrast, Indonesia was found to have 82.17% of its employees paying for their training, which is relatively lower when compared with the remaining countries.
With regards to the analysis on the basis of supervisory position, a common trend that can be observed from our data. It is evident that in all countries except United Kingdom, when an employee holds a supervisory position, the employee is more likely to receive some training from the employer as compared to the employees without a supervisory position.
When it comes to self-paid training, an employee having a supervisory position is more likely to train himself or herself when compared to an employee who is not. This can be observed in all countries except India, where there is a marginal difference of 0.59% between self-paid employees that have a supervisory position and those that do not. In certain countries, self-paid training is high despite a high percentage of employees being offered training from the employer. This implies that many of the employees who are in a supervisory positions are undertaking self-paid training as well as training programs offered by the employers. The possible reason for the same, could be that employees are dissatisfied with the type or quality of the training programs being provided by the employer. Although, it is also likely that the employer refused to pay for a particular type of training required by the employee for undertaking a supervisory position.
It can be concluded from our analysis that a large proportion of supervisors in the selected countries, have not undergone any form of training. In such a scenario, it is extremely likely that supervisors consider themselves to be unequipped for their jobs and acquire training from other sources. But what about the supervisors who are unable to afford training beyond their workplace? They are trapped in a constant cycle of being dissatisfied with their work and it is only natural that they struggle to keep up with other supervisors that have received better training.