Page 44 - increasing-the-value-of-age-guidance-in-employers-age-management-strategies

Increasing the value of age: guidance in employers’ age management strategies

Figure 8. Percentage of companies assessing training needs of older workers

Source: Calculation based on Eurofound, European company survey, 2009.

3.3.3. SMEs provide fewer training opportunities
Consistent with Eurofound’s data on training needs assessment, a recent study
of the European Commission on SMEs and the labour market confirms that the
provision of training differs in amount and type, across the size class of
organisations (EIM Business and Policy Research, 2011).
The most common training methods within SMEs are on-the-job training and
self-directed learning. More than half of all European SMEs mention that these
activities have been available for at least some of their employees in the previous
year. Less common are enterprise-provided training courses which have been
used in about half of all European SMEs. Mentoring programmes, job rotation,
learning cycles, study visits and exchanges or secondments are not common
practice among SMEs.
The most common training methods for large enterprises are on-the-job
training and internal and external training courses; these are provided at more
than 90% of larger firms. Not as common are mentoring programmes, learning
circles, study visits and exchanges: 43% to 53% of all large enterprises have not
made use of these activities during the past year.
These findings suggest that micro and small enterprises have a preference
for less formal training activities in comparison to large firms; this is also the
conclusion from a recent study on training activities in the UK. According to this
study, ‘Formal training is indeed limited in small firms, and links between formal
practices and outcomes in terms of workers' skills are much weaker than they are
in large firms. There is some evidence that informality acts as a substitute, and
that small-firm workers are more satisfied with training opportunities than their
large-firm counterparts’ (Edwards, 2010, p. 3).

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