Vocational training in Slovenian organisations

In 2004, companies in Slovenia with more than 200 employees on average spent 2.8% of their annual payroll costs on training 46.2% of their employees. Managers received most of the training, followed by professionals and technicians. The annual duration of training of clerical and manual workers was overall about half of that of the first two staff categories. Line managers significantly influenced the assessment of training needs, while human resources departments organised, prepared and carried out the training programmes.

The majority of Slovenian organisations, especially enterprises operating in the global market, realise the importance of well-trained, skilled and flexible workers as a precondition for successful operations. According to the survey on human resource management (HRM) practices in Slovenian organisations, the proportion of large organisations with at least 200 employees that compiled a written strategy for human resources (HR) increased from 53.8% in 2001 to 62.7% in 2004. Other companies either had HR strategies that were not explicitly referred to in their policy documents or did not have any related strategy at all – the number of organisations without any human resources strategy (written or unwritten) decreased from 13.7% in 2001 to 9.9% in 2004.

The majority of workers on permanent, full-time contracts continue to enjoy a relatively high level of job security. According to the 2005 European Union Labour Force Survey (LFS) only 9.5% of employees had part-time contracts and 12.8% had temporary contracts: the rest had mainly full-time, open-ended contracts. Therefore, it seems reasonable for organisations to invest in different forms of training to achieve a greater functional flexibility of their workforce. The survey on HRM practices in Slovenian organisations provides data on different areas of HRM, including employee training.

Extent and distribution of employee training

The extent of training is reflected in data on the actual amount of funds spent by organisations on all types of education and training of employees (internal and external), and in data on the annual percentage of employees taking part in training. The survey measured the proportion of annual payroll costs attributed to training in order to evaluate the level of funds used for this purpose. In 2001, Slovenian organisations spent on average 2.3% of annual payroll costs on employee training; this figure increased to 2.8% in 2004. Nevertheless, the average annual percentage of employees in Slovenian organisations who received any kind of internal or external training declined from 49% in 2001 to 46.2% in 2004. The fact that Slovenian organisations invested more financial resources in training in 2004, but trained fewer employees than in 2001, implies changes in the distribution of training among employees and a potentially increased focus of training key employees.

Looking at the annual average number of days spent on training, managers were the employee category that received most training, closely followed by professionals and technicians, while clerical workers as well as manual workers on average only spent about half of the allocated time of the first two categories on training (see Figure 1). The opportunity to participate in vocational training programmes follows rather a hierarchical distribution in Slovenian organisations, although changes from 2001 to 2004 indicate that professionals and technicians, and manual workers spent slightly more time on training per year.

1: Annual average number of days spent on training (internal and external) for different staff categories

Source: COHR, 2001, 2005

Actors influencing training decisions

According to the 2004 survey, line managers in a large majority of organisations were most influential in assessing and determining training needs, while HR departments had the final say in planning and running the training programmes. In very few organisations did individual employees influence the decisions on training needs or were involved in the preparation and execution of training programmes. Trade unions did not play a significant role in any decisions related to training of employees in the organisations surveyed – the survey thus indicates that unions do not appear to have a decisive influence on company training in Slovenia (see Figure 2).

Figure 2: Influences on training needs assessment, preparation and running of training programmes in Slovenian organisations in 2004 (%)

Source: COHR, 2005

Key training areas in the next three years

In 2004, the organisations surveyed in Slovenia stated the following areas of training as the most important in the next three years:

• management skills – such as project management, people management, management of processes and change;

• professional and occupational development of employees – developing and updating knowledge and skills in relevant occupational and professional areas;

• changing legislation – such as labour legislation, and health and safety at work;

• foreign languages;

• social skills – such as communication and interpersonal skills, and conflict management.

About the survey

The survey on ‘Human resource management (HRM) practices’ in Slovenian organisations was carried out in Spring 2001 and Spring 2004 by the Centre for Organisational and Human Resources Research (Center za proucevanje organizacij in cloveških virov; COHR) of the Faculty of Social Sciences (Fakulteta za družbene vede, FSS) at the University of Ljubljana. COHR is a member of the Cranfield Network on Comparative Human Resource Management (Cranet). The data from both surveys were collected using a standard Cranet questionnaire sent by post to a sample of organisations that employed at least 200 staff and were active in different sectors. In 2001, the response rate was 38.8% (205 organisations) and in 2004, the response rate stood at 30.8% (161 organisations).

Further information

Results of both surveys are published in COHR booklets in Slovenian. A more complex analysis of Slovenian survey findings can be found in: Svetlik, I. and Ilic B. (eds), HRM’s contribution to hard work, Bern, Peter Lang, 2006.

Martina Trbanc, OHRC, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana