Scania to receive public funding for employee training

The European Commission - the executive branch of the European Union (EU) - today announced its approval of the funding for human resource development in the heavy vehicle industry that the Stockholm County Administrative Board had applied for. The European Social Fund has set aside SEK 125 million to partially finance training programmes at the affected companies.

“I welcome the announcement. This grant ensures that financial resources are now in place for the large-scale training programme that is a key element of our strategy to deal with the sharp decline in market demand,” says Per Hallberg, Executive Vice President and Head of Production and Procurement at Scania.

In planning its training programme, Scania has pursued a dialogue with the Stockholm County Administrative Board, whose chief executive - County Governor Per Unckel - has been assigned by the Swedish government to coordinate efforts to ease the impact of the financial crisis on the labour market. After thorough preparations and a carefully crafted application, the County Administrative Board has been granted resources from the European Social Fund. The application is related to the coordination and implementation of training efforts targeted to the heavy vehicle industry. The European Commission has now approved these financial resources.

Scania will now continue the employee training programme at its production units in Lule?, S?dert?lje and Oskarshamn that has been under way since early February. The programme includes generally and individually adapted training in such fields as production engineering, Scania’s working method based on continuous improvements and the company’s common principles and values. Employees are also offered the opportunity to supplement their knowledge of languages and mathematics.

“For employees, human resource development not only means that they will improve their potential within the company. They will also strengthen their position in the labour market generally,” Mr Hallberg says.