A training course offering that works: responding to the needs of your team

Labour deal

Providing training is crucial nowadays. After all, in a labour market where 'staying in work for longer' is becoming the norm, lifelong learning is inevitable. The 2022 Labour Deal sets out an individual right to training. This means that (medium-) large companies are required to offer their employees at least five training days a year (exceptions may exist in specific sectors). A training plan lists all the training courses provided by the employer within the company. This ranges from formal training courses, set up by an outside party, to in-house on-the-job coaching. The purpose? To further encourage the learning culture at companies.

Looking to easily register and follow up on your training courses? Connect HR Office is the way to go.

Please note: from 1 September 2025, it become a legal requirement to track employee training in the FLA. Click here to read all about it.

Readiness to learn widely varies

What does employers’ training course offering look like today? Our recent survey shows that over 4 in 10 companies today already provide 5 training days for their employees. Approximately half offer a smaller package, ranging from 1 to 4 training days, which means they are yet to fully comply with the regulations. Side note: the obligation applies only to (medium-) large companies, whereas Belgium is also home to a lot of small-sized SME businesses.

Looking at the employee side, 2 in 10 say they attended five training days or more last year. That being said, around 3 in 10 did not take any kind of training. Which means their willingness to learn widely varies. This begs the question as to whether employees are keen on updating their knowledge and/or skills. When queried about their plans for the future, 1 in 10 workers reports they are not planning to take any training this year. Nonetheless, 2 in every 3 workers do wish to enrol in some training course or other this year, ranging from one to more than five days.

Interestingly, employers have a different take on this. Moe than half of them think believe that a minority - that is not to say anyone - of their employees plans to effectively take up all five training days this year. 

Mismatch between supply and demand

The figures indicate a contrast between employers' training course offering and employees' willingness to take up the offering available. One possible cause is that employees do not see the added value as far as their current job is concerned. On the other hand, it is also quite possible that the training course offering as it stands fails to match their specific needs.

Want to motivate your workers to exercise their right to training? The challenge is to get them to do the bidding, enabling you as their employer to respond accordingly with an appropriate training course offering. Here are a few tips to help you do just that:

• Devise your training course offering around the needs of your employees. Match your training courses to their duties or find out what they want to become proficient at themselves.
• Keep the future in mind. Do your training courses match the knowledge and skills employees need to continue to effectively perform their job in the future? If not, the smart money is on future-proofing your training course offering.
• Today’swork environment is changing at lightning speed. All these developments also require additional training so that employees can continue to function and thrive. Consider the rise of artificial intelligence, fast-paced technological developments and increasing customer expectations.
• In addition, it is also important to continue to invest in the development of soft skills, such as adaptability, so that employees remain employable on the ever-changing labour market.
• Will your employee take up a new position at your company? In that case the smart move is definitely to provide additional training so he is able to develop or hone the knowledge and skills required. 

The better the offer matches the needs of employees, the more meaningful training will be perceived as - and the greater the willingness of your employees to take up training.

Arizona

More changes are on the way. The new federal government believes the current system - five training days for everyone - is insufficient to address individual needs, which only goes to reinforce the mismatch between supply and demand. Which is why the government coalition agreement sets out that the individual right to training will be made more flexible, with added focus on the workers who need it most. There will also be provision for the partial collectivisation of training days within the company. How all of this is to be translated into concrete legislation remains unclear for now. We will keep you up to date in our blog as soon as more information emerges.