Why a Looming Recession Is No Reason to Cut Training Budgets

Preserving training budgets is a proactive way to help employees take on new responsibilities and perform at their peak.

The layoffs just keep stacking up, raising fears that we’re on the brink of a recession. Google-parent Alphabet let 12,000 people go, mere days after Microsoft and Amazon announced that they were slashing 10,000 and 18,000 jobs, respectively. These announcements come on the heels of recent big-time layoffs at heavyweights like Salesforce, Meta, and Twitter.

Conventional wisdom holds that when things get tight, finance executives should look to trim costs wherever they can, and one of the first items that wind up on the chopping block is training budgets. This approach is misguided for several reasons and can actually wind up doing more harm than good.