Forschner Albania – a company specialized on development and manufacturing products for onboard cabling systems, precision turned parts and electromechanical systems for Mercedes vehicles – is one of best examples illustrating the new relationship between the employer and the National Employment Service. Forschner Albania launched its activity in the country in 2016 and the company employs over 430 people, many of them in collaboration with the employment service offices. The company plans to open a new factory in the coastal city of Durres and the overall employee staffing levels to over 1600 people by 2019, as part of its ambitious drive to grow internationally and in the German market in particular.
“We currently employ 430 people, with 300 of them working here in Vaqarr-based factory and 130 others in the city of Durres. The company faces growing number in job applications. We are currently hiring some 20 to 30 employees a month. Demand for our products in Germany keeps growing. We largely rely on the German market. Our company manufactures onboard cabling systems mainly for Mercedes buses and cars. We also manufacture scanners for other companies, including Philips. The company plans to build an entirely new manufacturing plant in Durres and we expect to employ over 1200 people and a total of over 1600 workers by 2019,” the company representative explained.
The head of the National Employment Service, Elira Çaushi, describes the close cooperation with Forschner Albania as very fruitful.
“Forschner is one of the companies closely and fruitfully cooperating with the employment service offices. The company has sought to employ its staff through cooperation with our offices. We have forwarded list of potential candidates and the company has interviewed them.”
The company provides work-based professional training and development opportunities, both in Albania and abroad. Such an approach has helped the today’s production line managers to pursue their professional career after starting job as ordinary workers back in 2016.
“I started work as an ordinary operator and now I have advanced in pursuing my career within the company,” says Sidorela, now a production manager.
“I’m studying engineering economics. Thanks to a Memorandum of Understanding between the private company and the Polytechnic University of Tirana we are provided this training programme that represents the first step towards we will face in the labour market and the real world. This is a golden opportunity offered by the company. During the first weeks of the programme we were familiarized with the manufacturing sector and we were then deployed in various departments and production lines to see a variety of end-to-end workflows and specific production processes first-hand,” one of students attending the professional internship program at Forschner.
The company representative says around 60 percent of the employees have originally attended a three-month training programme at the factory.
The Minister of Finance and Economy Arben Ahmetaj hailed the fact that Forschner has established what he called a technical academy equipped with the full vocational and professional education logistic, providing training to its own employees and to the country’s industry in general.
Prime Minister Edi Rama urges private businesses to take advantage of the government-funded training program.
“You should make use of the new training scheme funded by the government. The government has included a financing scheme for one, two and three-month paid employee training program under its employment promotion program, providing a payment equal to the social assistance payment average. It means that whoever has left the social assistance program, or every jobseeker interested to take up work we are ready to support them financially. There are two kind of jobless people in Albania; jobless people who want to work but they lack the required professional or technical skills to immediately take up a job in a private company and jobseekers unwilling to work but awaiting to receive everything from the government, or wanting to work at the public administration by showing a party membership card or a party flag. What we are doing to help and make the employment promotion program highly effective is providing cash to anyone agreeing to take up a job and willing to work, but they fail to do so because they lack required skills and professional knowledge. We are ready to support financially this group.”
Identifying jobseekers willing to take up work at private businesses and attend professional training program in line with the business needs for skilled workers in an ever increasingly competitive labour market remains a challenge. Engagement of individuals at legal working age through employment programmes and employment service is part of this challenge.
“What we are seeing now – the Premier emphasizes – is a growing demand for vocational education whereas capacities of the vocational education infrastructure have narrowed. Almost no one attended the vocational education institutions four years ago, because it was merely a farce. But now people have understood that vocational education is the path towards employment. And indeed, our data show that the vocational education graduates stand equally employment chances to the higher education graduates and higher chances compared to the secondary education graduates. This is the challenge, to enhance capacities and make use of cases like yours that companies are seeking to self-establish the centre of vocational training and then support private sector in this regard. This is not to support employment in general, because there are also abuses, but to support the vocational training of both young people and adults. Because even when at an age the employment chances are reduced, it would be enough to accept training and be ready to take a job.
“In a country with everyone claiming that taxes have increased – the Premier went on saying during the conversation with the factory executives and staff – the truth is that the government has actually lowered the taxes even to a fragile low rate because the state runs on taxes. You all know well that although we had stated and already implemented a progressive tax policy with those earning more having to pay more in taxes and indeed we raised tax on large business to a 15% rate and it is actually the only tax we have increased in addition to the fuel tax taking advantage of an international conjuncture and understanding that it won’t add the tax burden on people beyond what they can afford. The salary income of 300 000 lek is not subject to income tax. A progressive tax system is applied to other workers receiving higher salary, but they still pay a minimum income tax much lower than the 10% flat tax rate they had to pay until five years ago. VAT on machineries has been removed. The decision has brought positive impact as import of machineries has increased. Small business pays zero taxes.”
