Europe Region: How training can help workers and employers anticipate change

Social Dialogue for Workplace Learning Case Study Series 2012.

This case study is one of a series of good practices on social dialogue and collective bargaining for skills development. It provides an overview of ‘European Agreement on Improving Professional Development through Effective Anticipation’ concluded between a multinational company Thales and a European Industry Federation. The goals of the agreement are to:

• respond to business and skill needs by identifying medium-term trends per job family and the corresponding training needs on a collective basis;
• anticipate technological and labour-market change with a view to boosting the company’s competitiveness with minimal restructuring;
• improve its workers’ employability by provision of a learning environment allowing them to be effective and efficient in their present and future jobs and to “develop their full potential”;
• develop its attractiveness vis-à-vis its own staff and potential recruits to address possible growing shortages of engineers and skilled technicians.