Project

Easing the administrative burden on host companies through less bureaucracy

In 2018, SECO’s Red Tape Monitor survey estimated that over half of all host companies consider the administrative burden associated with providing workplace training to be (rather) high. For this reason, the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) commissioned the Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (SFIVET) and BSS Economic Consultants to conduct a study on how to ease the administrative burden on host companies through less bureaucracy.

Business woman with hands behind head at office desk.
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This study is intended to assess the administrative burden that host companies experience as a result of regulatory requirements (‘red tape’). At the same time, researchers will seek to identify examples of good regulatory practices and suggest potential new ones. The study will focus on the regulatory requirements that host companies must satisfy when providing workplace training as well as on the implementation documents provided for this purpose by professional organisations and cantonal offices for upper-secondary education and training. Specifically, the commissioned study is intended to answer the following questions:

  1. What federal regulatory requirements do host companies face when providing workplace training?
  2. What enforcement practices and implementation documents do the cantonal authorities and professional organisations use with host companies that provide workplace training?
  3. How do host companies feel about the enforcement practices of cantonal authorities and professional organisations?
  4. What good enforcement practices exist and what recommendations can be derived from them?

The study will focus on the regulatory requirements that host companies must satisfy when providing workplace training. The scope of the present study does not include the federal regulatory requirements that cantons and professional organisations must satisfy.

Method

The first step will be to gather information about the various regulatory requirements and associated implementation documents (such as checklists, forms or instructions) that host companies have to satisfy when providing workplace training. This will then be followed by around fifty semi-structured interviews to validate the information gathered regarding the various implementation documents. Then researchers will seek feedback on implementation practices from representatives of cantonal offices for upper-secondary education and training, professional organisations and host companies. This should shed light on both problem areas and good practices. The research will give rise to a final report summarising the results and suggesting possible future action steps.