Have you applied for, or are you planning to apply for, NOW 2? If so, as an employer, you are obliged (on a best-efforts basis) to encourage your employees to undertake further training or retraining. The government can support you in this.
€50 million available
As an employer, you can use any time that may have become available due to the coronavirus pandemic to focus on your training policy. To support this, the government is offering various options for career development advice and (online) further training and reskilling. €50 million has been made available for this purpose. The aim of this scheme is to support people in their professional development so that, for example, in the event of redundancy, they have better chances of finding alternative employment. It can also help to retrain employees so that they are more employable within your organisation.
Free development advice
The government offers various ways to apply for career development advice. This is available not only to your employees but also to self-employed people and jobseekers. As part of your duty of care as an employer, you can also make use of career guidance and retraining and further training opportunities in the event that, regrettably, employees have to be made redundant. These employees can then also benefit from the schemes and improve their prospects on the labour market.
The various schemes:
- career advice
- https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/coronavirus-financiele-regelingen/overzicht-financiele-regelingen/now/now-nl-leert-door
Inspection
The NOW 2 scheme does not include any penalty or similar measure in the event of failure to comply with the aforementioned best-efforts obligation regarding further training or retraining. However, you must inform the works council (OR) or staff representatives (PVT) as soon as a grant has been awarded. Furthermore, in the interests of “good employment practices”, it is advisable to inform your employees about any training opportunities as mentioned in this article.
Development advice for everyone
Anyone aged 18 or over up to retirement age who has a connection to the Dutch labour market can apply for career development advice from qualified career advisers from 1 August. In addition, this autumn it will be possible to take part in free (online) training activities. The various schemes are therefore not only available if you have applied for NOW 2.