Survival training

Amid the gathering economic gloom at the end of last year, one announcement stood out. Toyota's decision to scale back production at its plant in Burnaston, Derbyshire was in tune with the grim climate but the car giant stressed that its employees would be not be idle. Instead of their normal jobs, they would be training.

Toyota claimed that training its people when times are bad will leave them better prepared for when things improve. If nothing else, the announcement kept the issue of skills development on the agenda at a point when it could have easily disappeared.

The value of training and skills development is arguably greater for companies and their employees in tough economic times than when business is booming.

For companies, difficult trading conditions mean it is more important to stand out from the crowd when competing for contracts that are thinner on the ground. An employee base that is demonstrably highly skilled is one way of achieving this.