KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
Upskilling and sustainable labour market integration in Flanders Three case studies Executive summary
Roel Verlinden Frank Pirard Ides Nicaise
July 2004
Hoger instituut voor de arbeid
KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
Expert report in the context of the Flemish VIONA Programme and the OECDLEED Programme ‘Skills upgrading for the low-qualified’
Hoger instituut voor de arbeid
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Introduction This ‘expert report’ is the Flemish participation in the SULQ-project (Skills upgrading for the low-qualified) of the OECD in the context of the LEED programme (Local Economic and Employment Development). The key issue of the SULQ project is the provision of training for low-qualified groups, with a view to more sustainable integration or indeed opportunities for job upgrading. In the past, low-qualified, long-term unemployed people sometimes appeared to get back into work through active labour market programmes, but to lose their jobs again rather quickly with the next economic downturn. Other workers kept on ‘churning’ between low-paid and temporary jobs, with little (if any) perspective for upgrading. In order to prevent this, various formulae have been applied where job placements were linked with prior skills assessment and orientation, coaching, route counselling, recruitment subsidies … and (centrally, but not exclusively!) further training. The combination of these elements requires a partnership approach with various specialised service providers. The SULQ-research aims to draw lessons from the evaluation of local and regional examples of good practice, in order to disseminate them at international level. Apart from Flanders, Austria, Canada, Denmark and the USA are participating in the study. In the first part of our report, we sketch the background of the Flemish labour market, the policy options and the main existing measures in this field in Flanders, including a description of their background, objectives, regulations, target group, financing and, where possible, the available evaluation material. The second part contains three case studies illustrating various approaches to upskilling, at different ‘stages’ of labour market integration.
1. The Flemish labour market and policy context The breakdown of the labour market statistics by level of education or skills suggests that the imbalance between supply and demand of high- and low-educated workers is not very large: a substantial number of low-level jobs are available, whereas the number of low-educated job seekers is rather limited, due to low labour market participation rates. However, this does not exclude the existence of matching problems within educational levels. Moreover, if the low activity rate of low-educated workers is to be considered as a form of hidden unemployment (e.g. through early retirement or through ‘discouraged worker effects’ - mainly among women) the real problem may be much more serious than the figures suggest.
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We have more accurate information about unequal participation in lifelong learning: there is strong evidence about a cumulative disadvantage of low-educated adults, who are considerably under-represented in adult education. The same holds, to a lesser extent, for older workers and economically inactive adults. All stakeholders in Flemish policy are aware of the challenge of the knowledge-based society. In the ‘Pact of Vilvoorde’, concluded in 2001 between the government, the social partners and representatives of the civil society, all parties have agreed on a set of ‘21 objectives for the 21st century’. The achievement of the learning society is listed in this pact as the first objective: by 2010, 10% of the population aged 25-64 should participate in adult education. The 2nd objective stipulates that overall functional literacy rate (including ICT literacy) must rise to 75%; inequalities must be reduced in all levels of LLL and access to further education must be guaranteed to all. In trying to achieve these goals, the Flemish Government approved in 2000 the so-called Job Rotation Plan. The policy paper of the Minister of Employment setting out the priorities for 2001-2002, read as follows: “The Job Rotation Plan aims to support companies that offer employees promotion via ‘mobility training’ and fill resulting vacancies with jobseekers. A job rotation is an operation involving an exchange of employees via single- or dual-track training: - the incumbent employee is trained up to the level of the job appropriate to his/her abilities; - the inserted job seeker is trained in the workplace for the new job that has become vacant”.1
In fact the Job Rotation Plan does not exist as an autonomous scheme with its own field of application, criteria of recognition and funding conditions. It is as it were a “multiple choice” menu, composed of existing measures, from which an employer chooses his own elements. Sector consultants have the task of promoting and advising on the available instruments with companies. Indeed, through this plan individual company training (Individuele Beroepsopleiding in Ondernemingen -IBO), the insertion department (invoegafdeling), the leverage grants (hefboomkredieten), VESOC action plans (VESOC = Flemish Economic and Social Consultative Committee), training vouchers (opleidingscheques) for companies: measures which up to now had existed alongside each other, or new plans designed to be autonomous, were for the first time interrelated and from then on
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Landuyt R., Flemish Minister of Employment and Tourism, Beleidsbrief Werkgelegenheid, beleidsprioriteiten 2001-2002, Flemish Parliament, document 904 (2001-2002) - no. 1, session 2001-2002, 5 November 2001 (pp. 39-40).
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implemented or applied slightly differently. To this end the funding rules of some of those measures were revised. The Flemish action plan for lifelong learning, adopted on 7th July 2000, consists of five broad items. Firstly, the Government commits itself to guaranteeing sufficient starting qualifications through initial education. This aims at putting school leavers in an adequate competitive position when entering the labour market for the first time. Secondly, the action plan aims at making information about permanent training and education more accessible, mainly through the creation of an interdepartmental body for the co-ordination of all provision and dissemination of complete information about all courses on offer. Thirdly, permanent training and education should be made more accessible. Measures such as the leverage credits (hefboomkredieten), training vouchers (opleidingscheques) and the training credit (opleidingskrediet) are meant to encourage participation in LLL. In the fourth place, measures aimed at providing ICT-skills for everyone should be worked out. Finally, the action plan also pays attention to the accreditation of prior learning (APEL). For a number of years so-called action plans have been agreed between the social partners and the government in the Flemish Economic and Social Consultative Committee (VESOC). Using subsidised collaborative agreements between government and companies, the committee establishes methodically and systematically the causes of the under-representation of certain disadvantaged groups in the Flemish labour market. Diagnosis and remedy are supported for up to 2/3 by the Flemish Government in order to achieve a positive policy of action within companies. The intention is to develop an integrated diversity policy, in which the objective is to bring the employment rate of various disadvantaged groups (women, ethnic minorities, “older” employees, disabled persons, those with reduced or limited ability to work, the unskilled) to the same level as the average for the whole Flemish population. Over 800 plans (including best practice) have been submitted so far.
2. Three case studies The three cases discussed in the report can be positioned on an axis within a ‘transitional labour market’ model: − The Learn & Work Centre ‘Care & Cleaning’ of Vitamin-W operates during the transition from unemployment to work in combination with training. It wants people to acquire the competences required to find a permanent job. For that purpose, people are given the chance to learn through and from the work they will carry out later, in other words: a blend of working and learning.
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Jobcoach Network steps in after people enter employment. It supports people who already made the transition from unemployment to paid work, in order to give them the tools to keep their new post. The activities developed at the company Harol were aimed at employees who had been in the same job for a longer period of time. They were intended to help a group of employees acquire the necessary knowledge to transfer to a different function, or at least to keep pace with the technological and organisational developments in the company which increases their employability and reduces their risk of unemployment.
2.1 Vitamin-W Vitamin-W is a private non-profit organisation within which various projects are developed with the objective of offering sustainable employment to as many people as possible from the target group. The target group consists of those who have the least opportunities to obtain this sustainable employment: the low-qualified and long-term unemployed. What makes this case interesting in this context of the ‘transitional labour market’ is that the traditional distinction between a ‘training stage’ prior to a (re-)integration phase in the labour market is abandoned. In the Learn & Work centre, participants undergo a training course which largely takes place on the shop floor. What’s more, they are remunerated for following the course. In that way, the threshold between a period of investment in job training on the one hand and picking the rewards at a later stage on the other hand is considerably lowered, which may benefit the transition to the labour market. A similar ‘learning through work’ approach is contained in the training methodology of the ‘Logistic assistant’ training courses. Competence-based thinking is pivotal to the operation of Vitamin-W and hence also to the LWC and the ‘Logistic Assistant’ training course. People who flow in are always screened to establish the extent of their basic, key and technical competences. At the other end of the route followed by the participants are the ‘outflow profiles’. These (competence) profiles were drawn up by Vitamin-W for each of the training courses on offer. They are the objective aimed for during the training. The outflow profile defines the competences required in order to flow into the regular labour market after participating in a LWC or another course. After the initial competence screening, an individual learning route can be drawn up. This learning route consists (in the LWC Care and Cleaning) of practical work experience as well as various educational elements. For the time being, it does not really have a modular structure, although this would deal with potential objections to the long duration of the course (12 months). However, there are a few distinct stages: during the first three months, the participants get to know the
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job(s) they are being trained for and they learn the pre-conditions: mobility, contractual obligations, social skills, etc. Gradually (and depending on the course member), specific skills are taught between the 4th and the 9th month: − driving licence; − Dutch as a second language: a language course for immigrants (newcomers); − ICT-skills; − safety; − cleaning techniques; − Interview training, etc. The formal training is alternated with placements in small groups under the supervision of a team leader, for the maintenance of rooms, companies, etc. The placements are usually half-time. During the 7th to 9th month, individual placements are organised, during which every participant learns to work without supervision. In the last three months, the training is supplemented with intensive interview training. After the training, some coaching (on-the-job) is organised for a proportion of the target group, until one year after recruitment. The ‘Logistic Assistant’ training course also combines work experience (including 2 placements) with various specific modules. Topics like ‘lifting techniques’ and ‘hygiene’ are very important in this context, alongside the subjects that are also addressed in the LWC. ‘Work attitudes’ implicitly feature throughout the courses. The instructors try to teach these attitudes through the work experience and the accompanying guidance. The Learn & Work Centre and the ‘Logistic Assistant’ training courses use a wide-ranging methodology. The teaching resources and text books are developed by the instructors and by those developing the methodology. Sometimes, lessons are held in classes, but the instructors mostly try to work interactively and actively. After all, many participants have little experience with traditional methods of learning in class, requiring the instructors to be creative. It is difficult to make an exact evaluation of the results, both of the LWC and of the ‘Logistic Assistant’ training course. The effectiveness of both initiatives is after all influenced by the general economic situation, policy measures, the terms of comparison used, etc. The LWC usually manages a flow-through of 50% to sustainable work, which can be considered a success in view of its target group. For the ‘Logistic Assistant’ course, it is estimated that approximately 95% of all participants find work after the course. This high success rate should nevertheless be held against the background of a ‘relatively strict’ participant selection at the start of the training course. As to the question whether pathways as long as 12 months are affordable for entry-level jobs, the answer is unambiguously positive. In-depth evaluation,
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including social cost-benefit analysis, has shown that such pathways turn out to be very profitable investments for the government budget and, a fortiori, for society as a whole. 2.2 Jobcoach network The jobcoaching-methodology originated from a real need perceived by the local employment centre of Ghent (City of Ghent). Through the contacts with jobseekers on placements, the awareness grew that many low-qualified people would benefit from external guidance after starting work. The reason for this is because employers often invest insufficiently in the reception and guidance given to people who are not familiar with a professional environment and the company culture they arrive in. From May 2002 until May 2004, the Jobcoach Network was financed by the ESF as an EQUAL-project. In a first phase, the instrument ‘Jobcoaching’ was subjected to some fine-tuning: experiences were bundled and cross-referenced with some expert views. The results were gathered in a handbook for jobcoaches, who were also provided with a newly developed training course. The Flemish government recently made additional resources available for jobcoaching to be extended. These resources will be available to the entire Flemish Community. In practice, the VDAB will take over the jobcoaching in most cases. Jobcoach Network developed a clear vision, based on a few fundamental axioms: 1. The objective of jobcoaching is the sustainable employment of new employees from the target group. This target group is described as 'job-seekers from the disadvantaged groups' and is therefore given a broad interpretation. Crucial for Jobcoach Network is that diversity is considered as a given that needs to be dealt with, rather than thoughts (and actions) based on 'shortages or problems'. Looking at and dealing with the diversity between people (employees) is possible in two ways: by thinking in terms of (disadvantaged) groups and categories, or diversity as the individual variation between different employees. The first viewpoint involves a risk of stigmatisation and the acceptance that there is such a thing as a 'standard or ideal' employee. Actions aimed at specific target groups are obviously not at odds with a purposeful diversity policy, but the perverse effects of categorial measures should be resisted by retaining the broadminded approach to individual diversity. 2. The Jobcoach Network starts from a systems approach when giving guidance to new employees. The individual should not be expected to make a unilateral adjustment, but all members of the organisation need to participate (and to be coached) in the integration process. 3. The guidance by a jobcoach is always preventative, trying to avoid that the new employee fails to integrate resulting in the employee losing the job (again). Furthermore, the guidance is ideally only short term, in the hope that
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employees will be able to persevere at work without the support of an external coach. 4. Finally, it should be noted that a job coach only offers guidance with regard to ‘soft’ factors and competences. Help with acquiring technical, professional and specific competences relating to the company organisation is seen as the responsibility of the employer. These matters will often be learned on-the-job. A jobcoach always operates as an external expert who gives guidance within the company at the request of the employer. After the appointed coach has been briefed by Jobcoach Network on the employees, their job and the company they are working for, the introduction phase gets underway. It involves the coach talking to the immediate supervisors and/or the managing director, to explicitly discuss the culture, working environment and expectations with regard to the employee. Then follows a first interview with the employee, during which the coach explains his/her role and hears the employee's expectations. On the basis of the discussion, they agree which aspects the coaching will focus on. These agreements are recorded in a coaching contract. The actual coaching sessions mostly take place during the first two months of the employment and their frequency gradually decreases. In most cases, the coaching is wound up when the employer is of the opinion that the employee is sufficiently integrated and no longer requires coaching. As stated earlier, the attention is mostly directed at 'soft factors': attitudes to work and circumstantial factors in the company and in the social environment of the employee. Lastly, the coaching is evaluated with the employer and employee. Due to each employee and the specific work situation being different, no two coaching processes will follow exactly the same pattern. Employees increasingly have the opportunity to contact their coach when they face problems. These problems may vary a lot and they often relate to various preconditions influencing the employment situation. For example: accessibility of the company, childcare, problems with the pay and the paperwork etc. Each individual course of coaching sessions is quite time- intensive at between 25 and 30 hours guidance per employee. The case of Jobcoach Network may at first glance seem rather a-typical in the context of a research on ‘upskilling’, as it relates more to guidance and counselling than genuine job training. Nevertheless, the selection of this case seems justified for two reasons: first, it does contain obvious elements of upskilling, albeit in the area of ‘soft skills’ such as regularity, communication etc. The way in which these skills are developed is informal: participation in the job coaching process would probably not even be reported by the employee as ‘participation in continued education or training’ in surveys about LLL. Secondly, the example demonstrates that this type of upskilling is typically embedded in a broader approach aimed to remove a range of potential obstacles to sustainable
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employment: administrative as well as social, human and practical obstacles (child care, mobility etc.). At the same time, we have seen that the upskilling is to some degree a collective process within a ‘learning organisation’. The first results as well as the experience of the parties involved suggest that the initial target of ‘70% successful integration’ may have been too ambitious. Of the 59 cases embarked on in 2003, 39 (65.5%) were completed successfully, 10 were finished prematurely and 10 were carried over to 2004. One of the reasons quoted for the moderate success is the fact that employees referred by counsellors of the VDAB are often difficult to coach. 2.3 Upskilling of team leaders at Harol The company Harol is a producer of roller shutters, sun blinds and sectional garage doors. Set up as a family company over 50 years ago, the company now contains 240 labourers and 90 office staff. In co-operation with the Sub-regional Employment Committee (STC) of Leuven, a host of initiatives were set up with the objective of developing the competences of a few low-qualified groups. In this case study, we focus primarily on initiatives which were undertaken in co-operation with STC Leuven for the so-called ‘team leaders’ (foremen). Harol came into contact with the STC Leuven following a recruitment drive and a training course for a group of migrants in the company. The contact sparked off an initiative to develop a diversity plan and a training and education project for low-qualified employees with many years of service. Approximately five years ago, Harol faced two important challenges: − the production system needed to be optimised and changed from a ‘push’ (i.e. supply-driven) to a ‘pull’ (order-driven) system; − changes in the production system led to a need for staff to have different competences and for the ‘upskilling’ of low-qualified colleagues. The company management took the decision to let the optimisation of the company processes coincide with the ‘upskilling’ of the labourers in the company. The decision to work on the ‘upskilling’ of current employees and to invest in their competences was particularly inspired by social reasons (loyalty of the business owner/employer). A large-scale conversion programme was set up around five action points: Quality, Cost, Deliveries, Morale and Safety. The new production system was largely based on Toyota’s ‘traditional’ production system. Characteristic for this production method is that it is based on leadership and responsibilities that are integrated as low as possible in the (hierarchy of the) organisation. They tried to support the reorganisation by undertaking a few actions with a great leverage effect. The main action was the so-called ‘upskilling’ of the (relatively low-qualified) team leaders in the company. This group of employees with many years in service (they had been recruited at the age of 16-18)
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after all had a comprehensive technical and company-specific know-how. Since the company wanted to fully exploit these competences, it chose to give these employees the opportunity to develop into team leaders. It required them to develop competences in two areas: − to extend their technical knowledge and skills; − to acquire specific management skills. Clearly, not everyone had the necessary competences to carry out this new function. The main problems were situated in the following domains: − long-term thinking and vision: for years, the employees had been performing labour which was purely focused on immediate results. In their new role, they had to co-ordinate work and plan it over time; − flexibility and openness for new situations and challenges; − leadership: the first-line management (‘team leaders’ or foremen) are given certain responsibilities with relation to the HR management of their team members. It involves coaching, appraisals, performance interviews, etc. Apart from interview techniques, it also requires assertiveness and other communication and social skills; − IT-skills: the new role, as well as the restructuring of the production process, requires that team leaders themselves input data in the computer system. In the initial phase, an external consultant (Manpower) was enlisted to assess the competences of all the employees in the target group. More specifically, an assessment was made of their management capabilities, vision and objectives on the basis of personality tests, IQ-tests and interviews. This stage was the starting point, followed by attempts in the next few phases to close the gaps in the existing competences through education and training. The second round of the project started with training on the subject of appraisals, given by the external consultant Novare. After the training, the team leaders were expected to conduct appraisals of their own team members. Initially, they received help from their departmental head, but later they were expected to carry out these tasks by themselves. Interviews with the HR manager and a team leader showed up that the prospect at first gave rise to some uncertainty among the team leaders. In the third phase, the team leaders were subsequently guided by an external consultant to instruct and stimulate them to take initiatives of their own accord and to work methodically. In co-operation with the external expert, the HR manager then worked out a step-by-step plan, with the aim of developing Personal Development plans (Persoonlijke Ontwikkelingsplannen - POP) for team leaders and department managers. The objective was to ensure that team leaders would eventually be able to develop personal development plans for their team members.
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The above mostly related to formal training courses. Furthermore, the learning of the target group is also stimulated in a different, interactive way: by means of a ‘forum’ for team leaders, foremen and departmental heads. In this forum, the parties involved meet regularly to discuss a wide range of topics. Initially, this method of learning caused some unease. The participants previously only performed manual labour and they were oriented towards seeing actual and tangible results. The concept of a meeting in which they were required to think, take the initiative and discuss matters is diametrically opposed to the employees’ deeply-ingrained habits. The return on this upskilling project has been very tangible. The eventual objective of the entire process was to optimise the production process at Harol. They wanted to shorten the delivery times and to increase the overall production efficiency. The company management reports an improvement in three domains: − a considerable reduction of delivery times; − a decrease in production costs. During the first year of the reorganisation, production costs rose, because many employees attended courses on a regular basis, at which time they were unable to deliver productive labour. After the first year, the costs nevertheless fell to below the starting level; − a considerable improvement of the quality. During the first year of the new production process, the number of complaints fell by 50%, in the following year they fell by 30%. From the employer’s perspective, the above was naturally the prime objective of the entire process. Furthermore, a few important effects became visible in the target group of these upskilling activities. Eventually, approximately half of the target group have actually been able to attain the function of ‘team leader’, acquiring the necessary competences for it. For the others, different solutions were found. A few were made technical officers, which better suited to their abilities and professional ambitions, without having to manage their colleagues. Team leaders consequently acquired practical competences allowing them to fulfil their new role. Furthermore, the training had a positive effect on their self-image and confidence. Employees gained the experience of being allowed ‘to grow’ in their work. To conclude, the Harol case provides a nice illustration of the possibilities for upskilling of incumbent employees. The main interest of this case undoubtedly lies in the convergence between economic and social objectives: while economic motives (raising productivity and competitiveness) triggered the whole project, it was linked to a diversity plan focussing on the social advancement of older loweducated workers. The results demonstrate that the upskilling plan was a profitable investment for the company.
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The case also illustrates that upskilling reaches beyond the objective of individual integration: it was an integrated part of a comprehensive plan with economic objectives, a related HRM plan for the whole firm, personal development plans etc. As in the case of job coaching, we conclude that the upskilling of individuals can not be seen in isolation from the re-organisation of the work environment. Harol made use of various instruments and support of various actors that were created through social dialogue at different levels: federal (sectoral fund), regional (diversity plan) and local (the STC). The tuning between these instruments has greatly facilitated the smooth implementation of the whole process. Last but not least, the case shows that so-called vulnerable groups of workers are capable of learning and adapting to a new work environment and new technologies, provided that the firm’s HRM policy prioritises the well-being of the target group.
3. Conclusion The Flemish government and social partners have been creative in engrafting their strategies onto federal institutions, mainly, the sectoral funds. In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to strategies combining training with employment, as well as with HRM-innovations. This is illustrated, on the one hand, by dual training-employment schemes such as WEP+ and, on the other hand, by the use of the ‘job rotation’ approach as a general framework for most of the existing measures. The case studies enable us to draw some preliminary conclusions (before the comparative stage of this transnational study). First of all, each of the three cases has revealed the importance of ‘soft skills’ as a key to sustainable integration. Without ignoring the importance of technical and vocational training, all project promoters have stressed the need to invest in work attitudes, communication skills, interview techniques, time management etc. Secondly, the two former cases (LWC Vitamin W and Jobcoach Network), targeted at the more disadvantaged groups, have adopted a holistic approach in which the demarcation line between training and guidance is hard to draw. Moreover, all obstacles threatening sustainable integration are being addressed more or less simultaneously in a multi-disciplinary network setting: medical care, social assistance, mediation, income security, mobility, child-minding etc. are being tackled in collaboration with a variety of other stakeholders. Partnership with supporting services is indispensable for success in this field. The third case (Harol) was holistic in a different sense, as it combined economic and social objectives, linked training in technical and soft skills with the re-organisation of work, and covered the whole firm.
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Thirdly, the duration and intensity of the training/coaching periods is proportional with the obstacles to integration. Longer pathways inevitably involve serious direct and indirect costs, as they are labour intensive. Private non-profit organisations have often pioneered in this field. Despite growing collaboration with the VDAB, they remain critical and urge the public service to invest more in the most disadvantaged groups. The Vitamin-W management see themselves as the sub-contractors hired for the ‘hard-to-place’, with the VDAB catering more for the ‘easier’ job seekers. In Ghent, as the deadline for take-over of the job coaching methodology by the VDAB approaches, the promoters tend to become more anxious about possible cutbacks and re-orientation of objectives. Unavoidably, the public employment service will need to invest more in training of their own staff as well as in the extension of existing provision for the low-qualified otherwise it may end up with a watered-down version of the initial concepts. Also, segmentation of the ‘market’ may lead to stigma and other perverse effects. A more balanced partnership should instead be based essentially on mutual complementarities and joint learning.