What’s the single best perk you can negotiate for next year? A 5% raise? Maybe. A better 401(k) or pension contribution? That’s always nice. But if you really want to crank up your skills for next year, ask for a learning budget.
What’s a learning budget?
A learning budget is simply an amount of money set aside by your employer to pay for your skills to be improved. When I was in private practice, they called it a “book budget,” but it could also be spent on electronic books, magazines, or trade publications that would enhance my ability to do my job effectively.
The Department of Justice did us all a favor when it added this question to its Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs guidance. “How does the company invest in further training and development of the compliance and other control personnel?” Investing in a learning budget is a great way for the company to provide it is offering sufficient training and development of employees working in compliance.
What should I spend it on?
Use your learning budget to strategically increase your skills and marketability to further your career. You should choose one of three areas:
(1) New and emerging risk or new trends in compliance. This will keep you up-to-date and in demand.
(2) New-to-you areas of regulation that you don’t yet know that would benefit you (such as privacy, anti-money laundering, modern slavery, etc.).
(3) Areas of law / risk you already handle but need to know more in-depth.
How do you do that? You can spend your money on many things, including:
- Subscriptions to publications like Compliance Week, the Wall Street Journal (Risk and Compliance section), Financial Times (focus on UK/EU compliance), Bloomberg, or other local and national newspapers.
- Membership in organizations like the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) or the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE).
- Courses offered by law schools or institutions focusing on compliance-related topics.
- Conference attendance at an event focused on what you’d like to learn to grow yourself professionally.
- Books relating to compliance and ethics. You could also choose books relating to leadership development.
- Local organizations sometimes have events that require sponsorship or tickets to attend.
By strategically spending your budget, you can put you in a great place for a promotion or better opportunity in the new year.
How much should I ask for?
I’ve seen learning budgets range from $50 – $5,000. It may be easier to get budget if you ask for a specific resource(s) – say, $400 to attend four SCCE webinars or $2,500 to attend a specific conference.
You might also consider asking for services with a monthly cost, like a subscription to the one of the key periodicals, which will be a small monthly fee but will give you great new content every day.
How do I convince my employer to give me a learning budget?
Sell your employer on the idea that you’re going to use your learning budget to become more valuable to the company. Employers need the most value they can get for the money they pay you, so if you become a more skilled individual, it’s a big win for them.
When you ask for your budget, tell your employer what you want to spend it on, and how the expense will help you to be more effective in your role.
Another way to obtain budget is to tie one of your annual goals to the materials you’ll be buying with your learning budget, so your employer can see what you’ll be accomplishing at work with the additional resources.
One of my favorite quotes is, “You will be the same person in five years as you are today, except for the people you meet and the books you read.” (Charlie Jones) By getting and using a learning budget, the person you’ll be in five years will be a smarter, more accomplished version of yourself.