HRM and skills development - June 2019

27 June 2019

Fighting the skills gap in paper, print and robotics design
SPPRING (Skills for the Paper and Printing Industries' Next Generations) is a new EU project coordinated by Intergraf that aims to develop a concrete skills and recruitment strategy and toolkit to help printers find and recruit appropriately skilled staff. In the area of robotics and automation, the University of Houston USA has opened a new educational Design and Robotics Laboratory with the support of NVC member Omron Automation (595 kB).

Asia and Europe meet on Lifelong Learning for sustainable employment
Cedefop, ETF and UNESCO have co-drafted the 4th edition of the global Inventory of national and regional qualifications framework and presented the findings at the 7th ASEM meeting. The global inventory captures, records and analyses global trends in qualifications frameworks and includes six thematic chapters, 102 individual country descriptions and seven regional qualifications frameworks, including the European Qualifications Framework EQF.

SMEs need higher investment in skills to boost wages and productivity
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been a significant driver of employment growth in recent years. However, many struggle disproportionately to navigate the increasing complexity in technologies and markets, according to the new OECD SME and Entrepreneurship Outlook. The report states that more investments in skills are needed to structurally boost SME wages and productivity. You can read the report online.

Lifelong Learning not a ‘no-brainer’
Despite the many efforts to promote lifelong learning, participation in education and training is hardly increasing. Many workers do not have a clear picture of the medium-term changes in their work and the significance for their own competences. As a result, they lack the urgency to keep learning, according to the SCP (in Dutch) report Limits to Lifelong Learning (in Dutch, 1.44 MB). A summary in English can be found here (181 kB). Finally, a great deal of training relates mainly to additional, updated training. This results in the concentration of a limited set of existing skills instead of the necessary broadening and deepening of knowledge and skills.

Training and retention replace recruitment as HRM top priority
In 2020, for the first time in 5 years, HR professionals will no longer have the recruitment of new employees as their top priority, but rather the training and retention of current employees. This is evident from the report HR-Trends 2019-2020 by AFAS Software, Berenschot (in Dutch) and Performa. You will receive the report after filling in your e-mail address (in Dutch).

Plastics industry salaries up, especially for women
Salaries of professionals in the plastics industry went up 12% last year, according to the 2019 Plastics Salary Survey conducted by SPE and MBS Advisors. Women were more likely than men to have received a significant raise. You can download the report after filling in your e-mail address.

Accidents with machines - Structurally improving safety at work
A RIVM report (in Dutch with an English summary, 600 kB) reveals that each year about 280 people in The Netherlands lose body parts due to accidents while working with machines with moving parts, like filling equipment. Ensuring that employees have no contact with moving parts could prevent many accidents. RIVM also launched lerenvoorveiligheid.nl (in Dutch) with facts and figures, stories about and options for working safely.
NVC members receive this information with all the relevant links in the monthly NVC Members-only Update. If you have any questions, please contact us: info@nvc.nl, +31-(0)182-512411.