Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education & Trainin g
Researcher-in-Charge : Youn g-Hoon Oh Research Staff : Yon g-Kook Joo Su-Won Kim Sun-Hee Hon g
The outlines of the research
The human resource development (HRD) policy should be based on the comprehensive data that are acquired throu gh scientific an d systematic research considerin g the radical chan ges of in du strial structure an d labor markets, an d the firms' responses to the challen ges of the chan ges.
How ever, the actu al states of HRD in enterprises has not yet been accurately or concretely grasp ed, which w orks as an obstacle to the establishment an d implementation of an effective HRD policy. This means that the basic data on HRD in enterprises should be collected an d constructed in advance.
This stu dy w as a annually continu ous stu dy to "A Preliminary Stu dy on the Current State of HRD in Enterprises", con ducted in 2001. The purp oses of the stu dy w ere as follow s:
1. To develop a questionnaire to analyze the current state of HRD in
2. To un derstan d the current state of HRD in the Korean enterprises throu gh a survey research
3. To provide the basic data for the construction of DB on the current state of HRD in enterprises
4. To provide the basic data for the determination of HRD policies.
To achieve these purp oses, the stu dy w as con ducted by u se of the follow in g subjects an d methods. First, the stu dy analyzed the achievements of HRD by u sin g the employment insurance DB in the year of 2001. Secon d, it developed a survey questionnaire for the current state of HRD in enterprises in the year of 2002 an d con ducted a survey of 1,500 bu siness sites that employed five or more people accordin g to the employment insurance DB. Third, a professional committee, consisted of HRD professionals, staffers from Ministry of Labour an d Small Bu siness Administration, an d professionals from academic fields, w as formed an d held on the research direction an d methods. Finally, the stu dy proposed the new directions of HRD policies an d improvement for future HRD research .
The research outcomes
A. The current state of supply an d deman d of manp ow er in enterprises
First, human resources shortage mostly appeared in manufacturin g skill job (41.5%), an d in professional skill job (29.2%) an d in service &
sales job (23.0%) regardless the size of enterprises.
Secon d, while the recruitment of new graduates w as reduced in the last three years, the recruitment of the exp erienced w as increased,
B. The current state of HRD in enterprises
First, The most common human resource management system is performance management system assessin g in dividual performance outcomes in terms of organizational goals. The annu al w age system, a system of compensation/ benefits systems, is the most common in clerical an d managerial job (56.6%) an d least common in technical an d en gineerin g job (13.7%).
Secon d, most firms (38.4 %) have neither an HRD organization nor its staff, an d 29.0% of them has only one full-timer assigned for HRD.
Third, the participation rate of union an d labour-management committee in HRD is relatively low regardless the size of business sites.
The rate of the firms where its union actively participates in HRD accordin g to the collective agreement is merely 18.3% of total.
Fourth, 1.2% of total personnel expenses w as spen ded on formal training activities last year . N on-m anufacturing sector invested 1.6% of total personnel expenses in training activities, which w as the highest one compared other in du stry sectors. The training expenses for new employees w ere of 30.3% of total training expenses, an d the average training expense per employee w as 253,000 w on an d it w as higher in sm all-sized enterprises.
Fifth, the seriou s barriers in implementin g HRD activities w ere time constraints an d the lack of strategic HRD plannin g. The next barriers w ere the lack of alignment betw een the HRD activities an d bu siness goals, an d the shortage of trainin g facilities.
C. The current state of trainin g activities
First, it w as foun d that 65.1% of firms carried out trainin g activities last year. The main targets of the activities w ere managerial p osition
(34.7%) an d research an d development job (29.3%), service job (16.1%).
Secon d, when the types of trainin g are surveyed, 81.2% of trainin g w as sponsored by employers an d 42.1% w as carried out by the vocational trainin g fun ds of employment insurance an d 8.6% w as sponsored by the other government authorities. While 83.6% of large-sized enterprises w ith 300 employees an d more carries out trainin g, only 20.0% of small-sized enterprises w ith 50 employees an d less p articip ated in trainin g.
Third, in usin g the vocational training funds of employment insurance, 82.4 % of total support fun ds w as used for up gradin g trainin g courses, an d only 10.4 % w as for cultivatin g trainin g courses. The amount of the support fun ds per employee w as 223,877 w on in average. In terms of the types of trainin g, it w as foun d that 1,930,000 w on w as u sed for training activities offered by outside consultants or institutions, 1,490,000 w on w as for cultivating trainin g, an d 191,000 w on w as for up gradin g trainin g.
Fourth, the stu dy surveyed cultivatin g trainin g by its systems to examine how much the trainin g helped trainees to develop their job performance skills an d to improve their productivity . The result show ed that group trainin g an d overseas trainin g w ere most effective, an d OJT an d in-hou se collective trainin g came next, which show ed that in-hou se trainin g played an imp ortant role. On-line trainin g that has been increased rapidly these days w as not foun d very effective compared to other trainin g methods.
Fifth, when it comes to support systems, the supp ort by encouragin g employees to take class (48.95) w as the highest, an d the support for the acquisition of job-related certificates (41.6%) w as the next one, an d partial payment supp ort for trainin g tuition (34.5%) came next. The enterprises that support trainin g or skill for the employees of their bu siness partners or subcontractors w ere of 10% only . The enterprises that operate
Sixth, besides vocational trainin g, the enterprises that utilized support systems that complied w ith Worker' s Vocational Trainin g Promotion Act by Ministry of Labour w ere of 33.7%. When it comes to its details, 42.3%
of the supp ort w as for the loan of school expenses for un dergradu ate w orkers an d only 7.5% of the support w as p aid to the expectant retired employees of fifty years or older as an incentive for takin g trainin g courses.
D. The current state of HRD partnership
First, it w as foun d that only 14.2% of bu siness sites w as involved in HRD partnership, an d 22.5% of bu siness sites had a future plan to participate in an in dustrial-educational liaison project, which show ed that small-sized firm had low er interest in participatin g in HRD. The reason w as that most enterprises had no necessity for in dustrial-educational liaison project (52.4 %), an d some enterprises failed to have sufficient circumstances for it.
Secon d, when it comes to employment ability up gradin g programs for college stu dents, it w as foun d that 20.1% of total programs w as supervised occupational experience program, 5.4 % w as w ork experience program that w as supported by Ministry of Labor . An d the w ork experience program in small an d medium-sized enterprises, which w as supp orted by Small Business Administration, w as only consisted of 1.7%.
The enterprises that once had an intern program for college gradu ates w ere only 16.7%.
Third, the difficulty in operatin g employment ability cultivatin g programs for un dergradu ates or intern programs for college gradu ates w as the lack of program system (41.1%) an d the difficulty in securin g management staff (20.5%).
Suggestions
First, the survey should be made on national level. For this, it is needed to construct a comprehensive HRD infrastructure that can regularly produce related basic statistics data with consistency un der the control of an HRD research institute such as KRIVET.
Secon d, integrated stu dies an d research of both the labour an d the employer should be con ducted in order to grasp comprehensively the reaction of enterprises an d w orkers to environmental chan ges an d to acquire an d construct accurate information, .
Third, the information in the employment insurance DB should be modified an d supplemented to conform to the chan ges of bu siness sites.
How ever, the failure of doin g this job cau sed a great discrepancy betw een samplin g results of research design an d actual survey results in the number of employees of the surveyed bu siness firms. Accordin gly, the management system, which is currently in a dual operatin g system by Work Information Center an d Labor Welfare Corporation, should be improved so that the information in the employment insurance DB can be appropriately modified an d supplemented .