Working Life Barometer in the Baltic Countries 2002 (pdf) - mol.fi

209
JOB-RELATED TRAINING
Raising the qualification level of the labour force is generally considered to be
important. It has been said that flexible production and innovation presuppose
not only a mastery of particular working steps, but also an ability of companies
and thus working people to master the requirements brought by changes
in one's operating environment (see Kasvio 1994, Julkunen 2000, Antila &
Ylöstalo 2002). Job-related training is believed to improve competence in
these aspects and to yield benefit to the employer in the form of increased or
updated know-how of individual employees.
The application of knowledge is regarded as increasingly important in the production
of contemporary and increasingly specialised goods and services. It is
seen as being vital for the maintenance of competitive advantage in manufacturing
industries, since goods and products acquire a higher design and technology
content and since processes demand continuous improvement
(Womack & Jones & Roos 1990, Schnabel & Webster 1999). In service sectors,
a growing emphasis on innovation and on improved responsiveness to
customer demand is equally creating pressure for processes and products with
a greater ‘knowledge-content’ (Hauknes & Miles 1996). Training is aimed at
augmenting a worker's explicit knowledge.
In all the Baltic countries, a minority of the working people had participated in
a job-related training session or course during the year prior to the survey.
About one in four (26 %) of the working people in Estonia and over one-fifth
(22 %) in Latvia and Lithuania had attended training paid for either fully or
partly by the employer. The difference compared with Finland is great, because
nearly half (46 %) of that country's working people had participated in
such training. In all four countries, more women than men attend employerpaid
training. The length of the training, on the other hand, has no link with
gender. In all the countries, training paid by the employer is typically quite
short in duration - that is, a few days per year.