The Training-Algarve measure is "taxingly positive" for companies and for employment, considers Rui Cristino, Human Resources director at Martinhal Resort, in Sagres, invited to speak about the case of this company at the public presentation of the 4th edition of the Training program -Algarve, which took place yesterday in Portimão, with the presence of Minister Pedro Mota Soares.
Rui Cristino added that the measure “adapts to our needs”, in such a way that Martinhal Resort has participated since the first edition of Training-Algarve, in 2012.
The company's workers covered, he said, "increase their skills and qualifications, and this is very important for our tourism industry."
The Human Resources director also praised the fact that the program translates into "cost sharing between public entities and companies, facilitating the companies' internal budgets, which is an asset", as well as underlining that it is a measure 'with little bureaucracy' and 'easy access'.
This last issue would come to be highlighted by the minister of Solidarity, Employment and Social Security in his intervention. «The best compliment [to the Training-Algarve program] was made by the business sector, when it said that it is a very simple, unbureaucratic program whose support effectively reaches people», stressed Pedro Mota Soares.
The official also highlighted the case of the company in Sagres as a «company that effectively had the capacity to generate, maintain and qualify jobs», issues that are «the main objective of the Training-Algarve Program».
Carlos Baía, IEFP's regional delegate in the Algarve, recalled that, since the creation of this programme, 138 employers and 2213 workers had been supported, of which 731 were employed and 1482 were unemployed, who had attended training courses in various fields , aimed at acquiring relevant skills to promote their employability.
Most of the companies covered are in the hotel sector, followed by trade, construction and business support services. On the other hand, he revealed, "only five large companies applied", with the overwhelming majority of those supported by micro-enterprises and only then by SMEs.
The fourth edition of the Training-Algarve program is aimed at workers whose contracts end between 1 September this year and 30 November 2015, that is, during the low season for tourism in the Algarve.
The measure tries to prevent companies from firing workers during these months, since, keeping the contracts, they are integrated in training actions.
The minister of Solidarity, Employment and Social Security guaranteed that the Government's objective is to “continue to promote and boost the effect of the active employment measures that we have created over the past four years, so that companies employ and can grow and need to employ even more in the future”, saying that “it is in this logic that we reissue the Formation-Algarve measure”.
For Pedro Mota Soares, such a program “is essential because it ensures that any entrepreneur who now signs an employment contract, wants to renew an employment contract, or reconvert an employment contract, knows that he has help, especially in low season, in a region that is so affected by seasonality».
The Training-Algarve measure constitutes, in this sense, and according to the government official, "financial support for the renewal or conversion of employment contracts, favoring the employment of work and permanent."
Minister Pedro Mota Soares also underlined that one of the main objectives is to train and qualify those who are the showcase of Portugal, both for foreigners and for the Portuguese themselves».
Desidério Silva, president of the Algarve Tourism Region, an entity that has been a partner in the measure since its launch, stressed the importance of «public and private entities understanding each other and working in a network to reduce seasonality».
"In a competitive destination and with a tourist offer like ours, training and qualification should be increasingly a factor where we have to work, because it will be increasingly decisive in the choices of tourists," he said.
The 2015/2016 edition of the Training-Algarve Program is regulated by the Ordinance No. 200/2015, of July 10th.
This program was established in September 2012, with the aim of combating the seasonality of unemployment in the Algarve region, and strengthening the competitiveness and productivity of the sectors of activity that are more sensitive to the variation in economic activity in this region.
Despite the reduction in unemployment registered in the Algarve, compared to the same period of the previous year, the Employment and Vocational Training Institute, which is the managing entity of the measure, says that «the reasons that motivated the creation of the Training-Algarve still remain, namely, the seasonality of tourist activity, the precariousness of employment relationships and the recognition of the positive impact of continuous training on the productivity of workers and on the competitiveness of companies».
The Training-Algarve Program supports the encouragement of permanent work relationships, by supporting the conversion of fixed-term or fixed-term employment contracts into permanent employment contracts. It also promotes qualified employment, based on valuing the skills of workers, providing them with professional training during the so-called low-season period.
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