Continuing education helps not only attract, but retain your talent, says Orizon

Vocational training is everyone's business, whether you're young or old, a career starter or an old hand. Especially in times of rapid technological development, new job profiles, and a constantly changing job market, it is indispensable to put your own knowledge to the test over and over again. After all, 44% of employees in Germany state that they are offered training opportunities in their job. This is proven by the results of the Orizon 2019 labor market survey. For the population-representative study, the independent market research institute Lünendonk surveyed a total of 2,012 people on behalf of Orizon. 

Despite the generally recognized relevance of continuing education, it is not one of the top criteria for an attractive employer. According to Orizon Labor Market Survey 2019, "Continuing education offerings" rank 10th in priority with just 16% - clearly behind monetary factors, flexible working hours or the working atmosphere. It is fitting that at least one in five of the more than 2,000 respondents stated that they did not know or care about further education offers in the current job. 

"That's why we need to continue to raise awareness of lifelong learning," says Roman Hennig, the new CEO of TOP 10's Orizon. "Our goal is to turn jobs into favorite places. This works the better the more competent and therefore more comfortable employees feel in their job."

Continuing education in a professional context can take many forms. The offers range from in-house training initiated by the employer, to attending courses and workshops with special external providers, to "on-the-job learning" or event-related further training on one's own initiative. Some content is directly related to one's own training or current activity, while others are more likely to be related to soft skills, such as negotiation skills or stress management. According to Orizon Labor Market Survey 2018, the top offer is still internal training and qualifications (68.8%), followed by external offers (55.6%). Both formats are slightly down on the previous year. On the other hand, "learning at work" is on the rise (21%).

Continuing education across all occupational groups and age groups

Further education is not just something for "career types", not just for professional reorientation - and certainly does not just fill in knowledge gaps. Current figures from the Federal Statistical Office provide impressive evidence: people who pursue further education programs in Germany have a wide variety of educational and vocational qualifications, work in various positions and work in many different sectors. Looking at the age distribution, it can be seen that continuing vocational training begins at the age of 15 and extends to retirement. There is a clear difference in the size of the company: while companies in the category of "10 to 19 employees" offer only about two-thirds corresponding offers, larger companies have more than one.

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