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Over the years, the Human Resources Development Agency was often wrongly regarded as a public service where elderly and unemployed plumbers were taught basket-weaving and housewives learned how to use Windows.
However, this week the HRDA will come of age as its innovative programme to incentivise employers to hire unemployed graduates will be presented at a European Commission workshop in Larnaca as a fine example of improved practices.
Employers have been contributing a small, yet significant amount to the HRDA Fund over the years, as a result of which thousands of workers have received on-going training in the workplace, have undergone professional re-engineering in order to find employment elsewhere and in many cases have broadened their horizons where the state structure has failed to provide career advice to those in the private sector. This has been a privilege limited to the public sector workers unions and other major and well-funded unions such as the bank employees and insurance professionals.
To date, the HRDA has subsidised the employment of more 2,000 graduates to the tune of 16 mln euros, which in effect means that these young people were kept off the dole and put their university knowledge to good practices, often in the form of mentoring programmes.
With the highest number of those out of work in Cyprus being in the Under 25 age group, almost one in four unemployed can only resort to part-time or contractual work where, admittedly, they may gain new experiences and probably move on to something more permanent.
In the case of the HRDA programme, employers have to commit to hiring young graduates who have been out of work for up to three years and in exchange receive grant that corresponds to nearly 80% of the salary. This, in turn, if reinvested, would pay for most of a young person’s wages for nearly six more months.
A good programme that is soon expected to focus on ‘Green Jobs’ for professionals seeking employment not only in the sector dealing with energy and alternative sources, but also in the services sector where large companies will be encouraged to introduced better practices and good corporate governance in all aspects of their activities.
Well done, HRDA. This is the way to invest in the knowledge society we hear so much about, but see so little of.
