Continuing training of employees in Czech enterprises

Vašková, Renáta

Panoramica

Articolo

Continuing training of employees in Czech enterprises

Pubblicato: 2 May 2005

Renáta Vašková

Competenze e formazione

A government resolution of 3 March 2003 approved a Human Resources Development Strategy (513Kb pdf; in Czech) [1] for the Czech Republic. The strategy emphasises education within the school system and also further education and development of people’s ability to react flexibly to the labour market’s changing environment. The main bodies behind the concept of the strategy are the National Training Fund [2] (NVF) and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs [3] (MoLSA).[1] http://wtd.vlada.cz/files/rvk/rlz/strategie_rlz.pdf[2] http://www.nvf.cz/enindex.htm[3] http://www.mpsv.cz/scripts/default.asp?lg=2

Considerable differences in vocational training exist among companies of varying occupational activity and company size, the ‘Continuing Vocational Training Survey’ reveals. The survey, which was carried out on an extensive company sample in 2000, also shows that Czech enterprises use courses run by external vocational training providers much more than internal courses.

Lifelong learning as part of HR development strategy

A government resolution of 3 March 2003 approved a Human Resources Development Strategy (513Kb pdf; in Czech) for the Czech Republic. The strategy emphasises education within the school system and also further education and development of people’s ability to react flexibly to the labour market’s changing environment. The main bodies behind the concept of the strategy are the National Training Fund (NVF) and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MoLSA).

The National Training Fund monitors human resources development; their 1999 Human Resources publication (in Czech) laid the foundations for regular information gathering on lifelong learning. An update is planned every four years, to reflect the current situation in the labour market. The latest issue from 2003 focuses on the Czech Republic’s accession to the European Union, or, more precisely, on the degree to which human resources in the Czech Republic are prepared for entry to the EU. The publication also synthesises information about the continuing education of employees in Czech enterprises, mainly based on an international survey, the ‘Continuing Vocational Training Survey 2000 (CVTS)’.

Survey results

Scope and use of continuing vocational training by the workforce

Overseen by Eurostat, the research took place in 2000, and covers both EU members and selected candidate countries, including the Czech Republic, for which the Czech Statistical Office was the responsible coordinator. During the reference year of 1999, the survey was carried out in 7,000 Czech enterprises with 10 and more employees, 67% of which enterprises provided their employees with further vocational training. Bulgaria and Romania returned the lowest proportions (28% and 11% respectively).

**Table 1 Reasons for enterprises not providing their employees with further vocational training (%)**
Reasons for enterprises not providing their employees with further vocational training (%)
Reasons:	Selected countries (%)*
Reasons:	BE	CZ	EE	FI	HU	IR	NL	PL	SI
Employees have the necessary skills	75	86	69	71	83	86	72	82	60
New employees have the required skills	42	48	54	54	70	48	58	27	59
Training is too expensive	12	14	41	16	22	14	8	37	22
Initial education is sufficient	40	12	30	22	39	12	8	36	27
Employees too busy	24	6	17	27	12	6	14	14	16
Other	38	5	5	20	4	5	26	2	13

Source: Nestler, K. and Kailis, E., First survey of continuing vocational training in enterprises in candidate countries, Statistics in Focus, Theme 3-2/2002, Eurostat 2002. *BE=Belgium; CZ=Czech Republic; EE=Estonia; FI=Finland; HU=Hungary; IR=Ireland; NL=Netherlands; PL=Poland; SI=Slovenia

Considerable differences were found between sectors: the highest proportions of enterprises providing continuing vocational training were in the electricity, gas and water distribution sectors (90%), transport vehicle manufacture (88%), and finance and insurance (86%). At the other end of the scale were companies from the catering and accommodation sector (46%).

In the enterprises that provided continuing vocational training to their workers, roughly every second employee took some part in this education (the rate of participation in training in the Czech Republic was 49% in 1999).

Like other European countries, the Czech Republic shows a training imbalance according to company size. It is generally the case that larger companies are more likely to facilitate further training for their employees. In the Czech Republic, however, the discrepancy between small and large enterprises was not as pronounced as in other candidate countries.

**Table 2 Enterprises that provide training as % of all enterprises, by company size**
Reasons for enterprises not providing their employees with further vocational training (%)
Number of employees:	Selected countries (%)*
Number of employees:	EU25	EU15	BE	CZ	ES	FI	FR	HU	IR	LT	NL	PL	SE
10-49	56	56	66	62	31	78	70	32	75	37	85	36	88
50-249	80	81	93	84	58	97	93	51	98	60	96	52	99
250 or more	95	96	100	96	86	99	98	79	100	80	98	63	99

Source: Eurostat. *BE=Belgium; CZ=Czech Republic; ES=Spain; FI=Finland; FR=France; HU=Hungary; IR=Ireland; LT=Lithuania; NL=Netherlands; PL=Poland; SE=Sweden

The research also revealed that Czech enterprises use courses run by external vocational training providers, much more than internal courses (94% and 37% respectively). External training is generally provided by private training firms. School facilities play a very small role in vocational training (1.4% of enterprises used secondary schools and 3.7% used universities).

**Table 3 Percentage of all enterprises providing CVT courses, by type of course**
Reasons for enterprises not providing their employees with further vocational training (%)
Type of course:	Selected countries (%)*
Type of course:	EU25	EU15	BE	CZ	ES	FI	FR	HU	IR	LT	NL	PL	SE
Internal	55	56	42	37	33	47	49	36	58	14	32	36	63
External	91	91	93	94	92	95	95	88	88	99	97	92	91

Source: Eurostat. *BE=Belgium; CZ=Czech Republic; ES=Spain; FI=Finland; FR=France; HU=Hungary; IR=Ireland; LT=Lithuania; NL=Netherlands; PL=Poland; SE=Sweden

Financial cost of employees’ continuing vocational training

Enterprises in the EU15 spend roughly a quarter more than the new Member States and candidate countries, Romania and Bulgaria, on continuing vocational training for their employees. The Czech Republic spends 1.1% of total labour costs on further training; Estonia, Slovenia and Hungary have higher proportions (1.8%, 1.3% and 1.2% respectively).

There are substantial differences in training expenditure between enterprises in different sectors in the Czech Republic: companies from the electricity, gas and water distribution sector spent the highest proportion of total labour costs (5.8%).

Main barriers to improving the quality of further education

There is an imperfect system of accreditation for providers of further education or training programmes. In most cases, enterprises and individuals lack clear information on the quality of courses offered.
Further education systems are not properly linked to standard education, which makes it harder to recognise and use education results, achieved in one sub-system, in another sub-system.
There is insufficient monitoring of educational needs, at national and regional level.

Reference

Czesana, V., Human resources in the Czech Republic 2003 , Prague: National Observatory for Vocational Training and the Labour Market, 2004.

Eurofound raccomanda di citare questa pubblicazione nel seguente modo.

Eurofound (2005), Continuing training of employees in Czech enterprises, article.