Companies are cutting back on coaching as the recession tightens its grip on the UK, according to HR recruiters.

A recent survey by e-learning specialist Cegos shows that 22% of employers plan to spend less on coaching on training next year, while 25% said spending on developing trainers will be cut in 2009.

John Maxted, chief executive at HR recruiter Digby Morgan, told Recruiter: “Companies are cutting back on all sorts of things - client entertainment, corporate hospitality. Coaching is deemed as a nice-to-have not a must-have. It is very important to have coaches but it is something that companies will cut back on if it gets more difficult.”

Michael Bolger, managing director at Bolger Associates, says: “Training is always the first thing to go when people are looking to cut costs. It is the easiest thing to cut because you can put in place later but then people never do. It is very shortsighted. As a recruiter, we have lots of training people on our books as candidates, a lot more than we normally would have.”