When I worked in local government, we were faced with some really tough financial decisions and these fed through to the learning function.

We decided to withdraw refreshments from face to face courses and the money saved was the equivalent of 0.6 FTE. What was the value we created by taking refreshments away?

The downside was no hot drinks or biscuits for free and people had to pay for their own refreshments.

The upside was better administration and a smoother colleague experience.

In learning I hear of people being pushed even harder to prove value and this is being exercised – in many cases – by cutting costs. If you’re not cutting costs to prove better value, why are you cutting them?