Published on 9th July 2024
Representatives of UNI Europa and WEC-Europe, the European social partners in the temporary agency work sector, met in Milan, Italy, on 12 June 2024 for the first workshop organised in the framework of their joint project ‘Capacity Building in the Temporary Agency Work Sector’. Funded by the EU, the project aims to enhance the social dialogue capacity of national social partners and explore the transferability of good practices in the areas of social protection, working conditions, training, and appropriate regulation.
Twenty-four representatives from the sector across Europe participated, including partners from several Eastern European countries. Discussions revolved around training and skills acquisition, as well as social protection, and were informed by a survey and interviews conducted by the project consultants on these themes.
Participants reviewed and discussed several best practices in terms of hiring, up- and re-skilling, particularly among youth, people over 55 years of age, and refugees or asylum seekers. One highlighted project was Travi, a training fund established in 2018 in Belgium and financed through social partners’ contributions. Travi launched the “Test Your Selfie”, an online tool to address the lack of soft skills among young jobseekers. It is now even available to schoolteachers for classroom use.
Professionals working in the sector also emphasised the need for courses to be adapted to concrete job openings rather than remaining overly general. While job candidates often need to acquire new skills for a job, employers should not expect perfectly trained workers on the first day of their placement. On-the-job training is equally key to staff retention.
The power of collaboration
Regarding the success factors for reaching underemployed groups, social partners underscored the importance of collaborating with public employment services, schools, and non-governmental organisations and forming partnerships with public institutions at the municipal, regional, and national levels. Programmes such as “Welcome and Work!” in Italy illustrate such successful partnerships. Through this initiative, migrant workers were recruited for jobs and offered assistance for their integration through the provision of personalised support, vocational training, language classes, and accommodation. The project’s success owes to the fact that it was managed jointly by unions and employers, through national collective bargaining, with close collaboration with local authorities and international institutions like the UNHCR.
The workshop discussions also revealed that the transferability of practices across different countries requires breaking projects into components rather than applying them as a whole. Similarly, experimenting at the micro/local level can be helpful before seeking to build national-level activities and partnerships. Social partners endeavouring to replicate or adjust good practices need to demonstrate their feasibility by bringing both future employers and job seekers to enterprises that have successfully implemented a program. Training projects should align with workers’ needs, their career aspirations, personal commitments, availability, and limited financial means.
Participants concluded that strong social dialogue frameworks are vital for any ambitious project that seeks to match labour market needs and skills needs. The discussions in Milan will inform the preparation for the next workshop planned within the framework of the joint project. The work will culminate in a final report to further enhance the capacity of social partners in the temporary agency work sector and ensure that they can be involved in organising fair, inclusive, and sustainable training programs.
