The Most Preferred Job Training for SMEs Is 'Leadership' Over IT and Computer Skills

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] Domestic small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) showed a strong preference for 'leadership' as the most favored field in their in-house job training programs.

On the 1st, lifelong education company Hunet conducted a survey on the 'Utilization of Education in SMEs' targeting education managers at 572 SMEs. Over 94% responded that employee education is necessary. Most answered 'very important' (57.0%) or 'somewhat important' (37.4%). Only a small number responded 'average' (5.2%) or 'not very important' (0.3%).

When asked about the fields where employee education is needed (multiple responses allowed), 'job-related' (90.2%) was overwhelmingly the most common, indicating a high demand for practical training that can be immediately applied in the workplace. Among job-related programs, 'leadership' (50.0%), which is fundamentally required in company life, was the highest, followed by 'IT & Computer' (35.7%) and 'Business Manners' (35.3%). Next were 'Trends' (27.3%), 'Foreign Languages' (18.9%), 'Humanities & Liberal Arts' (18.2%), and 'Certification' (16.4%).

Additionally, preferred forms of employee education (multiple responses allowed) were 'online education' (63.6%), 'offline education' (52.8%), 'combined online and offline education' (42.0%), 'online live' (14.3%), 'free channels such as YouTube' (14.0%), and 'reading education' (12.6%), in that order.

Education managers at companies considered the appropriate employee training time to be an average of 4.3 hours per month, with an annual training budget of 208,000 KRW. Looking in detail, employee training time was '1 to 5 hours per month' (53.9%), '5 to 10 hours per month' (22.0%), 'within 1 hour per month' (18.9%), '10 to 20 hours per month' (4.5%), and 'over 20 hours per month' (0.7%). Regarding training expenses, '100,000 to 300,000 KRW per year' (33.6%), 'within 100,000 KRW per year' (28.0%), '300,000 to 500,000 KRW per year' (25.9%), and 'over 500,000 KRW per year' (12.5%) were selected.

When asked if they were aware of the government’s training expense reimbursement system (Employment Insurance Reimbursement System), responses were 'aware and using it in the company' (39.9%), 'aware but not using it in the company' (39.5%), and 'unaware' (20.6%). Despite respondents being education managers, more than half either did not know about or did not use the system, suggesting low awareness of the program.

The reasons for not conducting employee training (multiple responses allowed) were mostly related to lack of time, such as 'busy with company work' (52.0%) and 'lack of training time' (40.0%). Other reasons included 'no dedicated education personnel in the company' (34.5%), 'burden of training costs' (33.5%), 'lack of suitable content' (29.8%), 'ineffectiveness of training' (12.7%), and 'employees leaving after self-development' (8.7%).

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Employment and Labor recently announced the launch of 'HRD Flex,' a job training support project for SMEs to revitalize vocational competency education in small and medium enterprises. Companies can receive full support for training expenses through the government’s training expense support system, making it a noteworthy program for SMEs. Hunet has been selected as an operating company for HRD Flex.

Kim Yong-gi, CEO of Hunet’s Enterprise Business Division, stated, “Although various government support programs are in place to strengthen the capabilities of SMEs, many companies do not utilize them. Conversely, SMEs that actively use these programs are welcomed by employees in terms of talent development and employee welfare. We hope companies will make sure to take advantage of this system for employee training.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.