Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs, 1 to 249 jobs) represent 99.6% of the companies in Switzerland and provide 2.327 million jobs (66.6%). Micro-enterprises (up to 9 jobs) and small enterprises (10 to 49 jobs) provide 1.629 million jobs (46.7%)¹. What relationship do they have with continuing education? What are their expectations and requirements?

Continuing education policy of enterprises

Nowadays, the large-sized enterprises (250+ jobs; 0.4% of the companies) largely integrate training at the heart of their development strategy. We are aware of certain characteristics belonging to the field of training among the latter. The trends are similar to those counted in the European countries: a continuing education policy integrated into the development strategy within the large-sized enterprises, expansion of tools and the available budget for continuing education, training preference and financial support for employees towards completion of basic training at a high level, etc.

Conversely, why do the micro- and small enterprises use training so little? Why is this disinterest sometimes even tinged with a certain mistrust? Do innovation and the acquisition of new skills follow another approach? What are the expectations of PMEs regarding continuing education, notably those in the high-tech (HT) secondary sector who witness strong international competition and are largely oriented towards exports? What do they expect from these training service providers? How can we gain their trust and encourage their interest in continuing education?

 A lack of interest in or a sense of unsuitability from the service?

We already know the typical responses of those in charge of the small SMEs when we mention continuing education for their enterprise: no money! And if they have plenty of money, then they say that their employees don't have the time or availability! If the credibility of these reasons cannot be doubted, then we ought to mention others which, for some, come under what is left unsaid: the frequent difficulty to have a large vision, prioritised and adapted to the training needs and to precisely establish the "difference" between what is and what should be and what the training should help to fulfil; the feeling that the training offers are unsuitable and conceived primarily for the large-sized enterprises, the presence of jargon that is found increasingly in offers from training providers; the fear of communication and training becoming vertical combined with ever-present memories of a bad education, the fear of being treated like a pupil, the use of an unsuitable teaching methods etc.

 A continuing education approach - participative, transparent and constantly validated for SMEs

Knowledge of the employment market with its multiple components (economic environment, production sector, fields, market situation, products, employee profile, corporate history and culture, etc.) represents a significant tool, but is not sufficient for the success of an activity and training programme within the company offered by an external service provider. And right from the start, the training and advisory process should be part of a participative approach: the trainer is there to listen, for information, to set goals, suggest forums, establish links and hierarchies, to feed a project and define the elements "goals, time, costs" in close and constant cooperation with his student(s) (management, head of production, etc.) and the employees directly affected by the changes and acquisition of new skills. At each significant stage, the activities should be followed by a detailed examination and validated by a representative reference group. There are no generic methodological models or compulsory steps for this process; each situation will lead to the construction of a specific ongoing activity which, starting from the goal definition stage, will integrate the implementation of a means of evaluation on the mid- and long-term effects of the process underway. For the micro- and small enterprises, cooperation with the bodies representing management/employment also represents a facilitating and generally compulsory stage.

Other approaches for training, innovation and enrichment of skills within the small and micro-enterprises

The trainer and training institution should constantly bear in mind that training is only one of the ways to train, acquire and enrich skills. In the micro- and small enterprises, exchanges between employees, training through imitation and sharing as well as "learning by action" internally represent a source of informal everyday continuing education that is largely facilitated by the small size of the enterprise and a flexible, primarily individualistic organisation. The activity leading to a high certification within an enterprise (an important step particularly for HT SMEs) is another way of significantly and professionally enriching employees and companies, especially since it is the subject of constant follow-up. And even if the recruitment policy in the smaller SMEs does not follow their planned management of employees and is generally based on an intuitive analysis and on the shoulders of the manager, the arrival of new employees also frequently represents a contribution of innovation and enrichment.

1Swiss Federal Statistical Office, enterprises – Indicators – Size, Source: company census in 2008

(http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/fr/index/themen/06.html) in French