To motivate and support companies in being protagonist to develop WBL initiatives, the research suggests we need to work at different levels following identified:

The concept of value-added work-based development

The survey gives a positive insight into European businesses regarding employers operating a culture of ‘growing talent’ in-house through staff development.  It suggests that continuing training and career guidance play a key role in employers’ minds in easing labour market transitions, achieving greater employment security, and increasing labour market flexibility. Work-based  development  is a common  factor  among  the  countries  in the  research  and therefore engaging successfully in WBL programmes is important to employers.

The influence of several drivers on attitudes to workforce development

Economic, demographic and political drivers affect an organisation’s attitude to workforce development. Economic drivers are clearly important to employers in all of the countries and will  continue  to  be  as long  as  EU  economies  remain  in  a depressed  state.  As  Europe emerges from the recession it may create potential as employers  could turn to WBL as a way of training  staff who have been taken on to exploit the increasing  economic  activity. Under  the  European  Employment  Strategy  (2020),  the  EU  Commission  will  work  with member states to develop existing labour market tools at regional, national and EU levels to correct imbalances of skills in labour markets. Demographic factors such as the distribution of population, age and skills exert a crucial influence on WBL development in the EU.

This implies a focus on WBL as a means of economic regeneration, which indicates   the  importance   of  employers   recognising   political  factors  in  developing,   or engaging in, WBL programmes.

Evaluation of workforce performance through formal and informal methods

The in-depth  interviews  show that  employers  measure  the performance  formally  through regular staff appraisal and by productivity measures in the workplace. Informal measures of performance  include assessing staff morale and turnover as well as workforce progression by gaining qualifications.

Gathering feedback from employers about working with academic programmes

The  research  shows  that  adult  education  and  WBL  activities  are  unequally  distributed between  small  and  large  companies,  and  large  companies  with  a  higher  number  of employees engaging more in WBL programmes.

Identifying ways to align employer and academic views of workforce development

The range of views of workforce development shared between employers and VET Institutions varies greatly between  the countries  and individual  employers .  It appears that employer and academic views of workforce development vary widely between countries. Some employers have very closely managed formal collaborations with VET institutions in developing and delivering WBL programmes, while others have little or no contact.