On-the-job training program

The project

The Employment Service of Slovenia, in short ESS, is one of the key Slovenian labor market institutions. The ESS is an independent legal entity with a public institute status and is operating uniformly across the entire country. The organizational and functional aspects of ESS operations take place on three levels: at the ESS Head office, where the management and the Central office are located, in regional offices and in local offices across the whole country. ESS activities are set out in the Labor Market Regulation Act, as well as in other laws and regulations from related fields of activity. The tasks of the ESS and its authorizations to perform activities in the areas of employment, active employment policy programs, career guidance, unemployment insurance, and the employment and work of foreign workers are regulated by numerous laws, rules and other regulations. 

Since 2017, the Employment Service of Slovenia (hereafter ESS) has been implementing the On-the-job training program for international protection beneficiaries, with the aim to facilitate their labor and social integration and improve their employability. The goal was to strengthen the beneficiaries’ skills and knowledge, consequentially improving their competitiveness in the labor market. At the beginning, in cooperation with their employers, a glossary of terms was prepared for each beneficiary, helping them with learning the Slovenian language. The duration of the training was six months.  

ESS also provides personalized counselling services to target groups and considers their specific needs. Some of the common characteristics of the beneficiaries are the lack of proficiency in Slovenian language, low levels of obtained education (little or no education, illiteracy), unfamiliarity with the Slovenian system and cultural differences. ESS has developed in-depth counselling for international protection beneficiaries provided by specialized counsellors. The work emphasizes intercultural competencies and the role of a cultural mediator in labor market integration and encourages beneficiaries to learn Slovenian language. Part of the counselling is also managing expectations related to the renumeration and work results, which are often unrealistic on the side of the beneficiaries.  

As TCNs and longtime unemployed often face similar challenges, workshops called Labor Market Integration and Employment Support for Vulnerable Groups were initiated in 2019. This way, the methods which proved to be successful for the beneficiaries of international protection were also implemented in the work with other TCNs and the recipients of social benefits, who need additional support in finding jobs as well as with their representation.  

The impact of the good practice

Active engagement in employment programs and subsequent employment lead to better integration into the local environment. The number of realized employments was constantly growing until the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though the path to employment is long and demanding, this practice showed that employers are increasingly willing to provide beneficiaries with training and employment. The practice also demonstrated that even if beneficiaries later lost their jobs, they managed to find new employment soon afterwards.