Further training in small companies is booming

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24.03.2021 10:36

Further training in small companies is booming

Small companies have their employees’ continuing education firmly in their sights. As early as 2019, they were ahead of large companies in terms of the intensity of their training commitment and invested both more time and more money in training their employees. SMEs that already use digital learning media intensively were able to use the Corona-related short-time work for further training as intensively as larger companies. This is confirmed by the current representative study by the Competence Center Securing Skilled Workers (KOFA) at the Institute of German Economy (IW).

The advancing digitization and increasing shortages of skilled workers make it essential for companies to continuously invest in the qualification of their employees. The investment in training and further education is necessary to build up the competencies required in the company in order to successfully shape change and remain innovative. At the same time, company qualification measures contribute to employee loyalty. In the wake of the massive shortage of skilled workers, small companies in particular are dependent on ongoing training for employees and equipping them for the changing framework conditions on the labor market.

As early as 2019, small companies conducted further training with a higher intensity than medium-sized or large companies. They invested € 1,384 and 22.4 hours per employee annually, while the financial and time budget of large companies was only € 1,142 and 16.2 hours. If one looks at the proportion of small companies that offer their employees further training in one year, this is 87.4 percent, lower than that of medium-sized (96.3 percent) and large companies (99.5 percent). On the one hand, this is a pure size effect due to the smaller number of employees and, on the other hand, employees of small companies are more involved in day-to-day business and therefore cannot free themselves for further training every year. For example, the “lack of time” factor is stated by companies with 57.4 percent as the greatest obstacle to expanding further training activities.

Here, companies can make better use of the scarce resource “time” through the increased use of digital learning media that are flexible in terms of time. A total of 78.4 percent of small companies name flexibility as the most important reason for using digital media. “It was not surprising to us that the use of digital learning opportunities in small companies has increased particularly sharply in recent years. After all, periods in which the order situation has relaxed somewhat and time quotas are available for employees can be used spontaneously and without much preparation for further training, ”says Susanne Seyda, study author and labor market expert at KOFA. The willingness of SMEs to deal intensively with the use of digital further training offers, which had already risen sharply before the Corona, explains why further training measures could also be advanced during the Corona-related short-time work. At the beginning of the Corona crisis, small and medium-sized companies used the opportunity to use short-time work for further training of their employees just as often as large companies.

About KOFA: The KOFA project (Competence Center for Securing Skilled Workers) at the Institute for the German Economy started in May 2011 and is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi). The focus of the project is on supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in securing skilled workers and structuring their personnel work. The KOFA offers concrete recommendations for action and practical examples on its homepage www.kofa.de.