Soft skills increasingly important
Door to increasing digitization, the essence and longevity of ‘hard skills’ in the workplace are shifting. In various sectors, automated processes are taking over these skills. According to an estimate by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the ‘Future of Jobs’ report, at least 85 million jobs will have disappeared by 2025 due to increasing digitization. These are jobs involving input from people, machines and algorithms. Therefore ‘soft skills’ more important , because employees have to collaborate in a different way to carry out their work. It is the responsibility of employers to retrain or upskill talented employees in a timely manner.
Research shows shows that companies that focus on creating a culture of development are more successful. A company culture in which employees have opportunities to develop their talents increases the employee engagement . This then affects business success, because employees immediately see how their work impacts the organization and customers. Put simply: an employer who actively focuses on learning and development is attractive to current and future employees. But the employer also gains a competitive advantage in the market.
Talent development
Hoe meer knowledge and skills employees have, the more broadly they can be deployed. Other reasons to focus on talent development include, for example, changes in roles and tasks, employees dropping out due to overload or retirement. Also, long-standing employees within the organization sometimes need a push to continue developing within the field and to keep their current (professional) knowledge up to date.
By setting up internal development programs to teach employees new skills in a timely manner or to retrain them, a flexible company culture emerges with people who possess future-proof skills. Yet some employers are reluctant to invest in their employees because they do not see immediate results in their people. Both teaching new skills and retraining simply take time.
Retraining and further training
When employers have a clear picture of the competencies that talented employees must have for the organization – also in the long term – they can set up a development policy. The first step is to investigate what has changed in the market recently. What is the market doing and how are competitors developing? Once you outline the framework of a learning culture, it is easier to place a dot on the horizon and set strategic goals. It is also important to take a close look at the wishes and needs of employees. This gives employers insight into the skills needed for the future, and makes them aware which employees do not yet possess these skills. Only then can they focus on general training or further training of employees and align multiple learning programs to it.
When creating a development culture, it is important to closely look at the existing talent and the employee's learning style so that it can flourish. Conducting an assessment, for example, is a useful way to map out employees' talent and development potential. By engaging in a conversation with the employee, you can examine the skills present and set up a development plan.
Using subsidies for talent development
For (internal) training and retraining or upskilling there are a number of subsidies in the Netherlands. With the following three subsidies you can get started with talent development:
1. NL continues to learn
This is a temporary subsidy scheme for career advice and training. Employees (and job seekers) can make use of free career development advice from an accredited career advisor. MBO providers also make online training available. The provider applies for a subsidy per participant for this. An important condition is labor-market relevance; the training offer must be aimed at sectors where there is currently an urgent need for additional workers.
2. STAP-budget
STAP stands for Stimulation of Labour Market Position. With the STAP budget, employees (and job seekers) receive a subsidy prior to their training. The STAP budget is separate from the targeted exemption that employers themselves have when it comes to taking a course or study aimed at fulfilling an occupation in the future. When an employer reimburses the study costs, the employee cannot claim the STAP budget. Employees and job seekers can submit an application annually to the UWV . For attending a course, a budget of up to 1.000 euros per person per year is available.
3. SLIM subsidy
The SLIM scheme stands for Subsidy scheme and developing in SMEs. The costs of stimulating development, but also coming up with a development programme, mapping development potential and workshops for managers can in the coming years via the SLIM subsidy for 60 percent to be subsidized.
