In-firm Training Research Articles

Влияние корпоративных программ обучения и развития сотрудников на эффективность компании

Corporate or in-firm training, as a practice of personnel development, providing relevant knowledge and skills of employees has a long tradition and history of development. Commercial companies that occupy a leading position in their respective markets traditionally invest a significant part of their profits in employee training and development programs, since it is the workforce that is an important factor in the competitiveness and sustainability of companies both in the current and strategic perspective. Professional training and advanced training of employees is an urgent task of personnel development in modern economic conditions, since the speed of technology change, global trends in digitalization, as well as other challenges necessitate a rapid response. Companies that are unable to promptly reproduce the professional competencies of employees are gradually losing their competitive positions in the market. The purpose of this work is to consider the main advantages that thoughtful and systematic work on in-firm employee training provides to companies.

Which Active Labor Market Policies Work for Male Refugees? Evidence from Germany

AbstractIn this paper, we estimate the causal effects of a set of active labor market programs for male unemployed refugees on welfare who entered Germany between, 2013 and September, 2016. Using rich administrative data, we employ covariate balancing propensity scores combined with inverse probability weighting to estimate effects up to 33 months after the start of treatment. Our results show that relatively short-term training in the form of Schemes by Providers and In-Firm Training, as well as longer-term Further Vocational Training programs have a positive impact on both the employment chances as well as labor market earnings of refugees in the medium run. So-called “One Euro Jobs”, a public employment program, does not yield positive effects on employment or earnings. Sensitivity analyses confirm that our results are unlikely to be driven by unobserved confounding.

Typical school-to-work transitions of young adults with disabilities in Germany – a cohort study of recipients of vocational rehabilitation services after leaving school in 2008

Purpose In Germany, vocational rehabilitation (VR) for young people with disabilities (YPWD) aims to counteract disadvantages on the training and labour markets. However, the school-to-work transitions (STWT) among YPWD are underexplored. This study investigates to what extent and for whom VR provides an institutional bridge into employment. Materials and methods Based on representative administrative data of the German Federal Employment Agency, young people in VR are observed for 6.5 years after completing lower or intermediate secondary education in 2008. Using optimal matching and cluster analysis, six typical STWT trajectories are identified. Results Most of the YPWD completed company-external vocational training, some undertook regular in-firm training. These forms of training often lead to regular employment, albeit with a delay for some. Other young people are guided from training in sheltered workshops into sheltered employment. Another group exhibits problematic STWTs in which recurring unemployment and (non-training) programmes fail to lead to training or employment. Conclusions VR combined with in-firm or company-external vocational training can facilitate the STWTs of people with disabilities. However, individuals from poor families are less likely to benefit from VR. Similarly, restricted capabilities and problematic STWTs are observed when young people drop out of VR due to poor cooperation. Implications for rehabilitation Vocational training often is a prerequisite for labour market entry; however, if the structural conditions on the local labour market are unfavourable, young people with disabilities do not take up employment. Training within sheltered workshops often leads to highly institutionalised trajectories that should be reconsidered to permit greater permeability into the regular labour market. As young people with problematic STWT more often come from poor households, they should be targeted to a greater extent in the context of VR counselling.

In-firm training, innovation and productivity: the case of Caribbean Small Island Developing States

ABSTRACTIn-firm training is a crucial innovative activity in modern knowledge-based economies, which face increasing global competition and rapidly changing technology. Nevertheless, there are few studies that look at in-firm training in the Caribbean. This study uses the World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) 2010 and Compete Caribbean’s Productivity Technology Innovation Survey (PROTEqIN) 2014 to provide empirical evidence on in-firm training in the region. The results suggest that there is a relatively low incidence of training in the region, although there are significant differences across countries and this may be because of heterogeneities in public support and barriers to in-firm training. Also, various firm characteristics affect in-firm training including size, ownership, whether the firm exports, whether the firm is part of a larger organization, innovative activity and workforce structure and educational level. Lastly, the findings suggest that in-firm training in the region may play a relatively small role and may even not matter for innovation and productivity, although this finding may be because of low levels of formal training and the metrics used in defining and measuring in-firm training, innovation and productivity given the data available and limitations of the sample.

기업 교육훈련투자가 기업의 산업재해율에 미치는 영향 : 제조업을 중심으로

기업 교육훈련투자가 기업의 산업재해율에 미치는 영향 : 제조업을 중심으로

Training, job mobility and employee satisfaction

ABSTRACTIn-work training is generally regarded as beneficial for employees and in Britain it continues to offer significant gains in earnings. However, little previous research has tested whether training also leads to higher levels of job satisfaction or ‘happiness’. Employers need to retain trained employees in order to make training cost-effective, but this may clash with employees’ career aims if they view external job mobility as a better strategy, for instance because of reduced internal promotion opportunities. Using panel survey data for the 1990s and the 2000s, and considering four different aspects of job satisfaction, this research finds that job mobility, usually regarded as inimical to in-firm training provision, is associated consistently with gains in job satisfaction, while receipt of training has effects on satisfaction that are mostly close to zero. Further, job satisfaction is high in circumstances where financial returns to training are low, and vice versa. Finally, we find that training inhibits mobility, probably a good outcome for employers but not necessarily for employees.

Estimating the Effects of Human Capital Constraints on Innovation in the Caribbean

Human capital, as reflected in education levels and skills, and innovation is an important engine of economic growth. The Caribbean is deficient in both: lower than expected GDP growth rates are accompanied by relatively low innovation at the firm level, and the workforce is characterised by skills deficiencies and educational mismatches. In that regard, this paper exploits firm-level data covering 13 Caribbean countries to examine the extent to which innovation, a key driver of productivity growth, is affected by firms’ inability to find appropriately educated and skilled workers to fill key positions in its organizational structure, which is estimated using Probit models distinguishing between past and future innovation decisions. The econometric analysis finds that firms that have difficulty finding new skilled employees are less likely to engage in any type of innovation compared to those that can, and this is also true for decisions about future technological and non-technological innovations. Moreover, firms that face challenges finding employees with the required core and job-related skills at the managerial and professional levels are also less likely to innovate. Finally, while in-firm training is found to increase the probability of innovation, its magnitude is low.

Do employment subsidies reduce early apprenticeship dropout?

We evaluate the effect of the Apprenticeship Bonus, an employment subsidy programme, on early apprenticeship dropout. Eligibility for the programme is restricted to school leavers who have actively looked for an apprenticeship to start immediately after leaving school, but were unsuccessful in finding one. Our analysis is based on rich survey data that were collected specifically for this study. Using this data, we describe the characteristics of school leavers who looked unsuccessfully for an apprenticeship directly after leaving school and analyse the effect of the subsidy on the probability of apprenticeship dropout. Even though the subsidy provides strong incentives to discourage dropout, we do not find significant effects of the programme. Our findings suggest that financial incentives are not effective in increasing the probability of people finishing vocational in-firm training successfully.

Do Employment Subsidies Reduce Early Apprenticeship Dropout?

We evaluate the effect of the Apprenticeship Bonus, an employment subsidy programme, on early dropout of apprenticeship. Eligibility to the programme is restricted to school leavers who have actively searched for apprenticeship training to start immediately after leaving school, but were unsuccessful in finding a position. Our analysis is based on rich survey data that has been collected specifically for this study. Using this data, we describe the characteristics of school leavers who have searched for apprenticeship positions unsuccessfully directly leaving school and analyse the effect of the subsidy on the risk of apprenticeship dropout. Even though the subsidy provides strong incentives to prevent dropout, we do not find significant effects of the programme. Our finding suggests that financial incentives are not effective in increasing the probability to finish vocational in-firm training successfully.

The Impact of International Large-Scale Assessments on Work-related Educational Monitoring and Policy-making in Germany

Germany has relied on its well-established tradition of preparing the workforce through the so-called dual system of practical in-firm training (apprenticeships) and theoretical foundations conveyed by vocational schools. Believing in the high quality of academic school programmes that prepare a small elite for university studies, the German public remained convinced until well into the 1990s that there was little need for innovation and improvement in German education. Although there had been earlier signs of concern, this conviction remained unchanged until the publication of the outcomes of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in 1996. The ‘TIMSS shock’, reinforced by later studies, has resulted in a host of changes in educational policy, perhaps best characterised by the late Hermann Lange as the ‘turn towards evidence-based educational policy making’. Hallmarks of this trend were the decision by all 16 federal states in Germany to participate regularly in international large-scale assessments (ILSAs), including interstate comparisons (taken in 1997); the decision to define standards of educational performance (corresponding to the federally recognised school leaving certificates); the initiation of academic study programmes intended to foster the development of the required advanced technical skills; and the founding and/or expansion of agencies for quality management (including systems of reports on the state of education, both at the federal and the state levels). In this article, the role of ILSAs (including both IEA and others) in these policy changes are described and examined from a critical perspective.

Adult Workers in Theory or Practice?

This paper examines lone mothers’ participation in active labour market programmes in Germany. Since the 2005 Hartz IV employment and welfare policy reforms, expectations that non-em- ployed parents receiving means-tested benefits should be ready for employment or labour market programme participation have grown stronger. However, discretion for programme assignments is left to individual caseworkers. As a consequence, it is not clear to what extent the formal policy orientation towards an adult worker model of the family is reflected in practical policy implemen- tations. Thus, lone mothers’ participation in active labour market programmes is studied empiri- cally here on the basis of large-scale administrative data, using event-history analysis. Findings are that lone mothers are treated as adult workers with respect to workfare and training pro- grammes even when their children are still quite young. As soon as their youngest child is 3 - 5 years old, lone mothers’ transition rates into these programmes are as high as for childless single women. In the case of programmes that provide more direct pathways into regular employment, like job subsidies and in-firm training programmes, however, participation rates for lone mothers of young children are substantially lower than for childless single women.

Creating Employment or Keeping Them Busy? An Evaluation of Training Programs for Older Workers in Germany

The authors analyze the effect of participation in short-term training measures on older German recipients of means-tested unemployment benefits. Their analysis uses administrative data of the German Federal Employment Agency, and they estimate the effects of participating in two types of short-term training—classroom and in-firm training—on different outcomes of the participants. Results show that classroom training is not effective in making participants independent of benefit receipt. It has a moderately positive effect on employment outcomes, which are highest for West German men. In contrast, in-firm training significantly raises the participants' likelihood of finding regular jobs and of being independent of unemployment benefit receipt.

ドイツにおける二元的職業訓練 (デュアルシステム) の統治構造の変動

In comparison with other initial vocational training models, the dual vocational training system has a distinguishing feature in its governance style, which is known as ‘corporate governance’. This means that the employers' association and chamber (employers' representative) play the main role in the initial vocational training. In principle, public officials at federal and state government level only lay down the fundamental legal frameworks and entrust the implementation of the system itself to self-governance by the employers' association. This works as a dual system on the basis of totally voluntary participation by the employers, who therefore need to meet two conditions in order to make it function effectively. First, to maintain the legitimacy of this style of governance, the employers must offer enough apprenticeship places to accommodate all applicants. Secondly, they must bear responsibility for the cost of in-firm training.

Skill Formation Of Engineers In Large Korean Firms: An Analysis From A Comparative Perspective

On the basis of firm‐level case studies, this paper examines the actual performance of university education and in‐firm training for engineers in large Korean manufacturing firms. University education fails to meet the actual demands for skills at the firm level, while in‐firm training fails to devote sufficient resources to the continuous, lifetime skill formation of engineers. The poor performance of this education is explained by the rigid university administration system in Korea, and worsened by exclusive government intervention. The limitations of in‐firm training are accounted for by several features of corporate management, including the prevail‐ing production strategies and top‐down governance structures inside firms as well as the distinct occupational culture popular among young engineers.

Technology and Human Capital in Maturing Asian Countries

The performance of the technological leaders of different Asian economies has been very impressive. Each of them has to keep improving its policies and the supporting skill and institutional base, since each is entering into the most difficult competitive areas of manufacturing where sheer technological and skill superiority, flexibility and speed count rather than just manufacturing capability. This paper describes the characteristics of the Asian economies, their size, growth, productivity levels, export orientation, and importance of foreign direct investments, as well as the qualitative basis for their competitive success. The paper goes on to examine the level and needs of human resources in terms of schooling, level of basic education, vocational training and in-firm training. The levels of research and development and some striking examples of policy tools oriented toward skill enhancement are also dis cussed. An assessment of the maturing process, the weaknesses as well as the possible future orientations of each group of countries is done. Whereas the old Tigers seem well on their way toward maturing, the newer Tigers, which have been quite success ful in creating efficient production structures, need to abandon their largely passive and dependent approach and follow a more active 'innovation culture' in industry. China and India need to resolve their serious production and infrastructure diffi culties rather than technology development.

Vocational Education and Training in Germany after Unification

It is generally known in this context that the so-called 'dual system' of vocational education and training of apprentices, i.e. the combination of in-firm training and college-based education, is of much greater significance in the Federal Republic of Germany than in neighbouring countries. In principle, this also applies to the five new federal states (Ldnder) created after the demise of the German Democratic Republic and the unification of Germany on 3 October 1990. However, as will be explained below, these new states are still faced with considerable problems of adaptation and transition.