Fundacja FUNDUSZ WSPÓŁPRACY

Companies and employees of the Polish shipbuilding industry currently face a difficult period. Worldwide recession and inappropriately conducted restructuring made the companies ineffective, inefficient and finding it more difficult to operate on the competitive market. Shipbuilding companies face many problems related to effective use of their resources. The shipbuilding process differs from a traditional one: there are ups and downs in the demand for particular skills and competences. At some stages of shipbuilding there is no work for some employees or the company lacks specialists for particular jobs. There is high rotation of staff. Usually employees with relatively short experience leave the job and are replaced by unexperienced graduates. Elderly employees are less willing to adapt their skills to new conditions and to learn.

Polish shipyards do not have funds to invest in human resources and can not manage to raise salaries, thus are unable to improve efficiency and competitiveness of the sector. The managers do not use IT solutions supporting human resources management (e.g. defining job profiles, proper
recruitment, motivation and assessment procedures). The shipbuilding industry needs employees who have more than one profession and work in various phases of the production process, doing various jobs. The qualifications of shipyards' and outsourcing companies' employees do not meet the needs of modern shipbuilding industry, especially in the area of information technology and modern human resources management. They also lack suitable tools to stimulate motivation and do not use IT solutions to explore new business opportunities and promotion methods. Difficult situation of shipyards influences other companies of the sector. Inflexibility of large companies, inadequate management system which do not include cooperation between different firms and delayed payments directly influence small satellite companies.

The overall objective of the Partnership is to facilitate development of adaptation abilities of companies and employees in the shipbuilding industry. The Partnership will attempt to improve work flexibility by creating training policies in companies, increasing workers' mobility and establishing motivation systems. The use of modern information and communication technology solutions such as e-learning, Internet-based business communication and tele-information environment for group work will become important elements of the project activities. The pilot project will include 100 final beneficiaries: production workers (55 persons) and managers of shipyards and supporting companies (55 persons). Under the project, a continuous education model will be developed to increase multi professionalism of shipbuilding industry workers and improve adaptation skills of management. The model includes standard procedures for consulting, training and occupational practice system. The professional groups participating in trainings will be selected so as to improve qualifications that are required throughout the shipbuilding process. The training model will also ensure a higher level of safety at work through better selection of candidates for given jobs. The project will also develop occupational counselling standard, including methods of selecting a counsel, tools for testing the employees, computer software for data collection, enabling the employees of shipbuilding industry to select the best career path.

Development of motivation system for companies will become a very important part of the Partnership activities. It will help to increase productivity of workers and to improve stability of employment in the shipbuilding sector. The Simulator of Benefits of Flexible Employment will also be developed to test the effectiveness of flexible employment. The simulator will be part of a web-based vortal. The vortal will enable on-line cooperation between partners and help to build a knowledge library. Good cooperation of all parties involved in shipbuilding will increase effectiveness and competitiveness. To improve the quality of human resources management, the Partnership has developed and implemented industry supplement to the EURES system (European Employment Services). It is a solution for knowledge management, employment agency and selection of appropriate IT tools. The supplement meets specific needs of the shipbuilding industry.

Intersectoral cooperation between shipbuilding companies is also important. It will be facilitated by extensive dissemination of project results among many stakeholders: employees and entrepreneurs, trade unions, educational centres, sectoral organisations, local authorities and media. Apart from promoting innovations and building a good climate for shipbuilding industry, the objective of the dissemination is to influence the quality of business law related to the shipbuilding industry.

• Simulator of benefits from the use of flexible employment forms