2023 Research Report · Survey of 445 workplace education professionals
The State of Education Initiative Ownership
Who should own employee, customer, and partner education — and does it change results? Intellum surveyed 445 U.S. learning professionals to find out how budget cuts, skills gaps, ownership models, and executive sponsorship shape business outcomes.
33%
of learning teams had their budget reduced in the past 12 months
12%
of learning professionals say they lack the knowledge and training to succeed
66%
believe different teams should own different aspects of education
+19 pts
more likely to exceed business goals with one dedicated executive sponsor
Executive summary
Key findings at a glance
Three takeaways for busy leaders, followed by the full data. Every statistic on this page comes from Intellum’s 2023 survey of 445 workplace education professionals.
01
Layoffs and budget cuts are hurting learning professionals — and results.
33% of respondents saw their team’s budget reduced and 15% lost team members to a reduction in force. Those with reduced budgets were 11 points less likely to enjoy their work; those who lost teammates were 9 points more likely to miss business goals.
02
Learning professionals feel under-skilled, and it shows up in the bottom line.
12% say they lack the knowledge and training to succeed. HR professionals are twice as likely (16%) as education professionals (8%) to say so, and even 10% of executives and directors report a skills gap.
03
Centralized ownership and an executive sponsor predict better performance.
66% favor shared ownership, yet single-owner advocates are more likely to work at companies that exceed goals. Programs with one dedicated executive sponsor are 19 points more likely to exceed business goals than those with none.
Section 01
The Economy’s Toll on Education Professionals
Faced with layoffs, budget cuts, and rising churn, education professionals are doing their best to drive positive learner outcomes despite difficult conditions.
Finding 1.1
One in three learning teams had their budget cut in the past year.
Economic uncertainty forced difficult decisions, including layoffs and mandated spending reductions. Teams responsible for education saw workloads rise and budgets fall, yet were still expected to deliver quality work and ROI.
At your organization, over the past 12 months, which of the following are true?
Select all that apply · n=445
Finding 1.2
Organizations must combat rising churn by closing the customer-product skills gap.
of companies have seen an increase in customer churn over the past 12 months.
of education professionals agree: “We are good at selling the dream to prospective customers, but not good at helping paying customers achieve their desired outcomes.”
of respondents say their customers use half or less of their product’s full functionality.
Finding 1.3
Budget reductions and lost teammates impede learning professionals’ ability to drive results.
Respondents whose budgets were cut, or whose teams lost people to layoffs, agree with negative statements far more often than the average respondent.
“We are good at selling the dream to our prospective customers, but not good at helping our paying customers achieve their desired outcomes.”
“I enjoy what I do and look forward to going to work each day.”
“I feel like I am capable of making a greater impact, but I lack the knowledge and training I need to succeed.”
“We did not meet our business goals.”
Finding 1.4
Passion keeps 90% of education professionals going despite stress, burnout, and resource constraints.
48% look forward to going to work most days and 42% look forward to it every day. But how long can passion win out? To retain education professionals, organizations should streamline processes, reduce workloads, and focus resources on the most impactful work.
“Economic uncertainty is always unsettling. To alleviate stresses tied to that uncertainty, the BeyondTrust University Leadership realigns focus areas to support the company’s overall strategic goals as business priorities change. From there, we double down on communicating how each team member’s specific role supports the team and company goals.”
Sandra Hanna
Senior Vice President, Education and Enablement, BeyondTrust
Section 02
Training the Trainers to Improve Business Outcomes
Organizations can’t control economic conditions, but they can train their education professionals to work at their full potential and make a bigger impact.
Finding 2.1
12% of learning professionals lack the training they need — and HR is hit hardest.
While they train others, 12% of learning professionals aren’t getting the training they need. Many who own education in HR, Sales, Marketing, Product, or Customer Success aren’t classically trained in instructional design, so HR team members are twice as likely as education team members to feel under-skilled.
Seniority doesn’t close the gap: 10% of executives and directors say they’re capable of a greater impact but lack the knowledge and training to succeed.
“I feel like I am capable of making a greater impact, but I lack the knowledge and training I need to succeed.”
Share who agree, by team
“The skills needed for customer education are wide and deep. You need the business acumen to show the impact on the business, execute on pricing and packaging, resourcing, and forecasting, and understand learning science well enough to create delightful experiences. It’s hard to find people with the full skill set.”
Debbie Smith
President, Customer Education Management Association, and Senior Director of Visier University
Finding 2.2
86% of companies invest in their employees’ hard and soft skills — but there’s room to improve.
Untrained learning professionals create content for content’s sake and build ad hoc initiatives. Properly trained ones build formalized, curriculum-based programs — and Intellum’s prior research found 60% of companies with curriculum-based initiatives and 50% with formalized initiatives report increased revenue since starting their programs.
86%
say their organization invests in professional hard skills (e.g., training needs analysis, content creation)
86%
say their organization invests in professional soft skills (e.g., relationship management, active listening)
Finding 2.3
Failing to train learning professionals has widespread negative impacts.
Professionals who feel they lack the knowledge and training to succeed are less engaged, report more customer churn and lower product adoption, and are more likely to miss business goals.
“I enjoy what I do and look forward to going to work each day.”
“I enjoy what I do and look forward to going to work most days.”
“We have seen an increase in customer churn.”
How much of your company’s product functionality do your customers use?
55% of under-trained respondents say customers use about half or less of the product, versus 23% overall.
In the past 12 months, how did your company perform against its goals?
Finding 2.4
Everyone values people skills. High performers value business acumen.
72% of learning professionals say education owners should be people-oriented. But among respondents at companies that exceeded their business goals, “business-savvy” ranks No. 1 — a skill that didn’t make the overall top ten. Organizational education is a strategic business activity.
What skills are important in an education owner?
All respondents · top 10 answers
What skills are important in an education owner?
Respondents whose companies exceeded business goals
“A disciplined focus on driving business outcomes is how savvy education leaders earn the right to grow their programs. Aligning education outcomes to key business goals is the surest path to program growth and success.”
Evan Hall
Former Director of Customer Education
Section 03
Ownership of Organizational Education
Companies that invest in intentional, formalized education initiatives — with clear ownership and executive backing — reap the biggest benefits.
Finding 3.1
66% say different teams should own different aspects of education — but single ownership correlates with exceeding goals.
The survey defined ownership as “being accountable for decision making and performance of the education initiative.” Although most respondents prefer shared ownership, those who advocate for one owner make up the larger share of respondents at companies that exceeded their business goals. As an education initiative matures, it may make sense to centralize ownership.
What is a better approach for customer, employee, and partner education?
All respondents
Same question, among respondents whose companies exceeded business goals
In their words
The case for shared vs. centralized ownership
Shared
“Educating different populations requires very different skill sets and thus needs different people involved.”
Favors sharing across HR, education, customer success, and partner success
Shared
“These teams have a greater awareness of what it takes to help customers, employees, and partners maximize their potential.”
Favors sharing across education, customer success, and partner success
Shared
“The training should be directed by the people directly linked to that part of the organization’s success.”
Favors sharing across HR, professional services, customer success, and partner success
Centralized
“There should be a centralized team that provides company-wide guidance and direction even if the content comes from other areas.”
Believes ownership belongs with the Education team
Centralized
“Centralized strategies promote consistent outcomes.”
Believes ownership belongs with HR
Finding 3.2
Who owns each audience? HR leads employee education; Education leads customer and partner education.
87% of companies surveyed educate employees, 42% educate customers, and 33% educate partners. In most cases a single team owns each audience.
Employee education
87% of companies educate employees
When ownership is shared, it’s most often split between HR/People Ops and Education.
Customer education
42% of companies educate customers
Only 3% of companies share ownership of customer education across teams.
Partner education
33% of companies educate partners
Where ownership is shared, HR/People Ops and Education are the most common pairing.
Finding 3.3
HR teams are battling burnout — 23% say they feel burned out, more than twice the rate of education teams.
The rationale for HR owning employee education is solid, but many HR initiative owners lack formal education backgrounds and already carry heavy workloads. When people lack formal training, they can spin their wheels trying to build meaningful education — which is stressful and unscalable.
Respondents who say “I feel burned out,” by team
Finding 3.4
When the Education team owns employee education, programs are more strategic.
Education teams are more likely to be led by someone with a formal education background and to have skills in instructional design, training needs analysis, and content strategy — the foundation of formalized, curriculum-based initiatives that outperform ad hoc ones.
At your organization, which of the following are true?
By team that owns employee education
Finding 3.5
Only 6% of Education-team owners of customer education feel under-skilled.
HR owners are 2.5× more likely, and “other” teams 3.5× more likely, to say they lack the knowledge and training to succeed.
Finding 3.6
When Education owns partner education, 43% of companies exceed their business goals.
Share of each partner-education owner whose company said “We exceeded our business goals.”
Finding 3.7
Respondents say HR and Education are best suited to own organizational education — and HR does most of the work.
Organizational education was defined for respondents as “the strategic act of educating customers, employees, and partners in the workplace.” Responsibility was defined as “doing the work to plan, create, distribute, or measure learning content.” More people say HR should do the work (62%) than own the function (58%).
Where should organizational education live?
Which teams do the work to train customers, employees, and partners?
Finding 3.8
33% of companies have transferred ownership of organizational education — for three key reasons.
01
Consolidate and streamline
Customer success to education: “Try to consolidate education and training in one place.”
Marketing to education: “To streamline all education on one team.”
02
Budget cuts
HR to partner success: “To cut jobs.”
Marketing to HR: “Budget cuts.”
03
Lessen the load on HR
HR to professional services: “To lighten the load on HR.”
HR to education: “To help lessen the workload on the HR department.”
Finding 3.9
Only 31% of organizations have one executive sponsor guiding education — and they’re twice as likely to exceed goals.
When one VP- or C-level executive regularly guides and supports the people responsible for education, 38% of companies exceed their business goals, compared with 19% when executives aren’t involved. Invest in education the way you would any other critical function, like product development or sales.
31%
of organizations
One executive sponsor
One executive regularly guides and supports the employees responsible for education.
Exceeded goals
38%
Met goals
51%
Missed goals
11%
41%
of organizations
Multiple sponsors
Multiple executives guide and support employees responsible for education on an ad hoc basis.
Exceeded goals
30%
Met goals
59%
Missed goals
10%
28%
of organizations
No sponsor
Executives are not involved with organizational education.
Exceeded goals
19%
Met goals
69%
Missed goals
12%
What to do next
Five recommendations for education leaders
01
Adopt simpler working methods and better technology.
When budgets and teams shrink, simplify operations. Instead of uploading curriculum to multiple systems, use one learning destination: upload content once, then segment by learner persona.
02
Survey education professionals to see if they feel equipped.
Assess your teams now — and whenever ownership moves to a new team. If you uncover gaps, address them before they become burning problems.
03
Streamline ownership as your program matures.
Different teams owning different initiatives makes sense at the start. As the program matures, consider moving to a single-owner model.
04
Give your initiative the resources and skill sets it needs.
It doesn’t matter which team owns education; it matters that you have the people you need. Bring on freelance instructional designers and videographers if needed.
05
Secure an executive sponsor.
A sponsor helps ensure your initiative gets the resources it needs to succeed and drive business results.
Methodology
About the research
In winter 2023, Intellum commissioned an online survey of 445 full-time U.S. employees involved in delivering workplace education, to evaluate the economy’s impact on learning professionals and pinpoint the education practices that delivered the most positive business outcomes.
Respondents are responsible for delivering…
85%
employee education
44%
customer education
27%
partner education
19%
all three audiences
Team and seniority
Seniority: 61% managers or directors, 34% individual contributors, 5% VP or C-level. 100% work full-time.
Firmographics
Company size
35% 250–999 employees · 48% 1,000–9,999 · 17% 10,000+
Primary industry
36% Education · 14% Healthcare · 11% Retail · 11% Manufacturing · 28% Other (non-profit, software, franchising, security, financial services)
Business model
72% B2C · 23% B2B · 5% B2G
Offering
53% primarily services · 18% primarily products · 29% both equally
100% of respondents are based in the United States.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Quick answers drawn directly from the survey data.
What is organizational education?
Organizational education is the strategic act of educating customers, employees, and partners in the workplace in order to reach specific business goals.
Who should own organizational education?
66% of learning professionals say different teams should own different aspects of education. However, among respondents at companies that exceeded their business goals, 52% favor a single owner. Respondents rate HR/People Ops (58%) and Education (57%) as best suited to own it.
Does an executive sponsor improve education program results?
Yes. 38% of organizations with one dedicated executive sponsor exceeded their business goals, compared with 19% of organizations where executives are not involved — a 19-percentage-point difference. Only 31% of organizations have a single dedicated sponsor.
How many learning professionals feel under-skilled?
12% say they are capable of a greater impact but lack the knowledge and training to succeed. HR professionals (16%) are twice as likely as education professionals (8%) to say so, and 10% of executives and directors agree.
How did the economy affect learning and development teams in 2023?
Over the prior 12 months, 33% of respondents saw their team’s budget reduced, 21% said economic conditions interfered with their ability to do good work, and 15% lost team members to a layoff or reduction in force.
Which team typically owns employee, customer, and partner education?
HR/People Ops most often owns employee education (50%). The Education team most often owns customer education (47%) and partner education (35%).
Who participated in the survey?
445 full-time U.S. employees involved in delivering workplace education, surveyed online in winter 2023. 44% sit on HR/People Ops teams and 43% on Education/Training teams; 61% are managers or directors.
Share and cite
Want to share this report?
A rising tide lifts all boats—sharing this data helps elevate the profession of workplace education. Our only request: cite and link to this report.
Suggested citation
Intellum. (2023). The State of Education Initiative Ownership: How 445 Workplace Education Professionals Structure Organizational Education to Close Skills Gaps. https://www.intellum.com/resources/state-of-education-initiative-ownership-2023
Short attribution for a statistic
“33% of learning teams had their budget reduced in the past 12 months.” — Intellum 2023 State of Education Initiative Ownership Report
Stop Guessing Who Owns Education. Start Driving Impact.
Get the full 40-page report, or talk with Intellum about powering employee, customer, and partner education from one platform.