New investments, new technologies, and competitive pressures change the incidence and intensity of employee training after downsizing. There are fewer employees to train, but the sophistication of training often increases.
The expanded emphasis on training for the restructured work force is reflected in a more structured and systematic approach to training and a focus on efficiency, quality, and flexibility. In Zambia, for example, emphasis has shifted away from a short-term ad hoc approach to training to a longer-term, more strategic perspective. Training is increasingly competency-based, consistent with the demands of individual enterprises (Grierson 2002, p. 53).
Initial Training
As stated, virtually all companies put shop-floor employees through some kind of initial training. The duration, rigor, and formality depended largely on the nature of the tasks to be learned and the size of the enterprise. While all firms offered formal training, most of the enterprises in the RPED sample that conducted formal training were multinationals and larger domestic companies. Smaller enterprises engaged in less structured, on-the-job train-ing. Most new shop-floor workers in medium-size and large companies were designated trainees and received a training wage lower than the wage for more experienced employees. In Kenya and Zimbabwe, training was concentrated on senior and key staff members, although almost all staff members received some form of training.
Formal Apprenticeship Training
Apprenticeship training can be more efficient than institution-based train-ing, as was found in Zimbabwe in the early 1990s (Bennell 1993). However, formal apprenticeship programs are relatively small in modern sector enter-prises in Sub-Saharan Africa and appear to be declining in importance. For
example, only about 6,000 workers are enrolled in formal apprenticeships in Côte d’Ivoire. Apprenticeships take only 0.9 percent of school-leavers in South Africa and 1.5 percent in Botswana. In Zimbabwe, there were only 1,140 apprentices in 1998 (Atchoarena and Delluc 2001, pp. 128, 205, 225).
Moreover, the results of apprenticeships have sometimes been disappoint-ing. A different review in Zimbabwe found that 60 percent of the apprentices were unemployed after the apprenticeship period. Absence of follow-up after completion of training and a general lack of business orientation in the apprenticeships contributed to this outcome (Haan 2001, p. 153).
The surveys found that apprenticeship training has virtually disappeared from larger manufacturing companies in, for example, Zimbabwe.4 In Kenya, companies were found to be reluctant to maintain long-term appren-ticeship trainees, in part because of the outdated training centers to which they would be sent, but especially because of the costs of training and lack of employment opportunities within the enterprise on completion (Grierson 2002, p. 20). Also, the sheer supply of graduates on the labor market with some technical qualifications has enabled large, formal industry to retreat from the formal apprenticeship system (Grierson 2002, p. 11). Apprentice-ships are most prevalent in informal, small companies, particularly in Ghana, where school-leavers pay companies to learn from master crafts-persons or technicians (see chapter 6). However, the structure of the appren-ticeship system, as constituted in West Africa, is not well suited for training better educated workers for skills needed in modern manufacturing, and thus larger enterprises do not generally use the apprenticeship system.
The problem with formal apprenticeship is partly explained by the length of time and commitment required—usually 2 to 4 years. South Africa is intro-ducing an innovation in the form of “learnerships,” which reduce the length of training. Learnerships are “workplace learning programs supported by structured institutional learning which result in a qualification” (South African Department of Labor, as quoted in Afenyadu and others 1999, p. 52).
They cover not just employed people but also people who have yet to seek employment and the unemployed, and they are intended to span all sizes of enterprises and all degrees of formality, including micro and small enter-prises. Learnerships seek to eliminate the dichotomy between formal and informal when providing training (Afenyadu and others 1999, pp. 52–53).
From a provider perspective, the learnership system offers a new source of funds. As an incentive to take on more learners, employers will receive grants to apply toward the costs of training. This innovation is expected to expand the market for providers (Atchoarena and Delluc 2001, p. 239).
Upgrading Training
Another form of enterprise-based training is upgrading training of a more continuous nature. Companies invest in continuous training of their experi-enced employees to maintain and improve skills or to impart new skills.
This upgrading may take place in-house or outside. Training within the enterprises was the most common form of skills training because of the lim-ited array of external training options. External training was more prevalent than in-house training in Zimbabwe. This finding reflects the existence of a local training infrastructure that can be accessed. In particular, Zimbabwe’s more extensive array of training centers provided more alternatives than did institutions in Kenya and Ghana. Both large and small companies engaged in external training, but large companies did more (Biggs, Shah, and Srivastava 1995a, pp. 80–83).
Enterprises with strong company group linkages or the resources to access external support have the advantage in training employees. Many enterprises in the Grierson (2002) survey acted as agents or representatives of multinational corporations and thus had access to training support from parent companies. In such cases, training policies, practices, materials, and trainers are often provided—and sometimes required—by the parent enter-prise. Such relationships appear to be growing, as in Zambia, and can be seen as a normal and positive aspect of globalization and foreign direct investment (Grierson 2002).
The ILO/ITC survey in Kenya identified a decline in off-the-job sponsor-ships, both to local polytechnics and to overseas institutions. Instead, there appeared to be support for access to distance-learning programs for the highest level of technical qualifications. Distance-learning programs can ensure international standards and can cost substantially less, particularly in terms of work time lost while attending the programs. One food-processing company replaced full-time external training with internal training, supple-mented by training videos (Grierson 2002, p. 16).
Generally low educational levels of the industrial labor force increase the amount and cost of training needed by workers and also reduce the effectiveness of that training. The costs and methods of training are affected by the pool of talent on the shop floor. In industrial countries with high levels of education, such as Germany and Japan, workers can follow detailed and complex written instructions in job specifications and proce-dures manuals. Most of the training materials are, therefore, designed for self-teaching. However, in Africa, very little of this type of learning takes place because of low literacy levels. In both Kenya and Zimbabwe, half the companies surveyed used no technical documentation or procedures man-uals, and another 30 percent used very little documentation. In Ghana, the use of documentation and procedures manuals is even lower. High illiter-acy and innumerilliter-acy raise the cost of a company’s investment in training and productivity improvement (Biggs, Shah, and Srivastava 1995a, pp.
92–93).
Underinvestment in training in Africa can take two forms. First, African firms are generally spending less and providing workers with lower-quality training than competitors in other developing countries. Second, even with the same level of spending or training quality, lower human capital at entry
means that the training in African firms cannot achieve the skill proficien-cies of competitor countries (Biggs, Shah, and Srivastava 1995a, p. 93).