Morocco faces a skills shortage
3 February 2009
Read by 3991 persons
Morocco's improving economy is facing a growing shortage of skilled workers and, more generally, a skills crisis.
Recruitment difficulties affect almost all sectors, especially those experiencing strong growth: tourism, textiles, construction, call centers, new technologies, etc. In the construction sector, professionals in Tangier raised the alarm, with the lack of technicians with a bac +2 level threatening infrastructure projects in the region.
The skills crisis will be a central topic at the HR Forum in Morocco, opening this morning in Casablanca, an event organized by MRH. Several managers and HR specialists are expected at this event. All the experts interviewed agree: this "tension" is due to the gap between educational offerings and the needs of companies, but also to the lack of flexibility in the education system. As a result, the number of unemployed graduates has never been so high, and in most cases, young people are forced to accept jobs below their skill level. Call centers, for example, are now massively recruiting at the bac +4 level.
Despite some successes, professional training is not popular with HR managers. What is criticized? It is not complete and rigorous enough. Tourism, with double-digit growth rates, is undoubtedly the sector where the situation is most critical. Finding qualified waiters or chefs is almost a "miracle." In addition, there is an outflow of skilled workers to Spain, which has signed labor immigration agreements with Morocco. These are mainly experienced workers who are leaving, taking advantage of better conditions offered by the Spanish. Moroccan companies, particularly in the hotel industry, are on the defensive, unable to improve their attractiveness.
Training needs are enormous compared to investments in the sector. On the ground, despite efforts, the system is struggling to keep up. Azzelarab Kettani, president of the National Federation of Restaurateurs (FNR) and president of the training commission of the Hotel Federation, confirms: "Trainers lack professional experience, and the program is years away from the reality in the tourism industry; many teachers have never set foot in a hotel and know almost nothing about the profession." In fairness to these training institutions, there is a lack of involvement from professionals who are quick to criticize their shortcomings. In a field where the rule is apprenticeship training, young people have great difficulty finding host companies.
A significant proportion of employees in tourism currently have a baccalaureate level or less, reveals the president of the FNR. Often, they end up there not because the sector is very attractive, but because it represents a "safety net." In reality, the majority of tourism companies must also sweep in front of their own doors by improving their social attractiveness.
"The system we find ourselves in is a dead end: we train people while fearing they will go to the competition; if we don't train them, they are not operational, and we lose productivity," observes Azzelarab Kettani. In short, it's a vicious cycle. It takes between 6 and 8 months for credible training in the tourism sector. The same is true for call centers. Jérôme Mouthon, general manager of Sysnek France and Cerdis Morocco, specializing in telemarketing and web marketing, says he regularly receives people from general education who imagine joining his company "simply because they speak French." However, it is much more complicated than that: not only do you have to speak French correctly, but you also have to be motivated. Motivation is needed, it's true, in an activity with demanding hours and not always good pay.
Salaries range from 3,500 to 4,500 dirhams per month for an experienced operator. However, the bad reputation of call centers is due to working conditions and constant stress. The most successful companies generally offer their employees a social compensation system: weekly or monthly bonuses based on the teleoperator's performance, a pleasant work environment with rooms equipped for smokers, and above all, the full declaration of the number of employees to the CNSS (this is not necessarily a given everywhere).
The relatively high turnover, averaging 10% per month, in call centers is one of the equations that HR managers in this sector must solve. Faced with the qualified personnel crisis, employers poach good employees without hesitation. In the long run, this ends up destabilizing the entire organization.
Newspapers are full of advertisements recruiting thousands of tele-operators every week. One of the consequences of this "skills shortage" is pressure on salaries. This could ultimately threaten the price competitiveness of the destination, one of its selling points for investors in call centers.
Faced with the difficulties young people have adapting, companies have integrated training into their "recruitment package." This is an additional investment that can reach significant sums and, in some cases, push back the profitability threshold of a project. It is no coincidence that conventional schemes include partial coverage of employee (on-the-job) training.
The textile industry, which is making a spectacular comeback after a period of decline, is facing a severe shortage. It lacks not only skilled workers and technicians but also, and this is perhaps a new development, managers. While it is unfair to paint everyone with the same brush, the textile industry has a bad image (largely deserved) because of its outdated social conditions. For many people, working in textiles today is synonymous with exploitation. This means low attractiveness and difficulty in attracting talent to the market.
As a result of its move up the value chain, the sector also suffers from a lack of niche specialists such as fabric stylists and maintenance personnel in furniture making.
More generally, the use of illiterate and exploitable labor will end due to the evolution of this industry and its upgrading (see Emergence plan). It is also not possible to rely on "undeclared work" to improve cost competitiveness. Subcontracting as it has been practiced for decades is doomed to disappear, with competitiveness based primarily on the quality and productivity of human resources.
Leveraging Salary Supplements
Faced with the scarcity of talent, companies are competing in ingenuity to improve their social attractiveness. They are willing to pay for skills by establishing compensatory benefits such as bonuses or health insurance, explains Mohamed Benouarrek, HR director of Novartis. For certain profiles, such as engineers, the situation has truly changed, admits an HR manager from a telecoms operator during a debate organized by the Diorh group. A few years ago, he reveals, graduates of the INPT (National Institute of Posts and Telecommunications) lined up at Maroc Telecom. "Today, they have become impossible to find!"
In this context of a generalized crisis, HR managers agree on one point: "we must invest heavily" without falling into the trap of salary inflation. Investing heavily also means knowing how to optimize the periphery of the salary, for example. According to a survey by the Diorh firm, companies are using this lever. The most common salary supplements are: company cars, which are increasingly extended to middle management, fuel cards, which replace mileage allowances, social assistance loans, stock options, particularly in subsidiaries of American firms, coverage of graduate training programs, a tool also used to retain executives.
Anapec Mechanisms
Anapec is the main public employment intermediary. However, most transactions escape it, as the agency focuses on unemployed people in great difficulty, in accordance with its terms of reference. For their recruitment, more and more companies, particularly in call centers and hotels, use Anapec's database through the Idmaj program (insertion-employment) and its advantages. The Idmaj insertion contract grants companies exemption from social security contributions and income tax for 24 months on salaries. The only conditions are that candidates must have a baccalaureate or higher or professional education diploma and have been registered in Anapec's database for at least six months. This tool has been very successful with SMEs and sectors with high intensity of direct labor use.
Contractualized training for employment is the second partnership tool with companies. Based on a firm hiring promise, the Agency concludes a training-retraining agreement with the company for job seekers. Beneficiaries must have at least a baccalaureate, be registered in the agency's database, and be selected by the employer. Companies contribute 40 dirhams per hour per participant, with a ceiling of 10,000 dirhams per year.
Young firms operating in emerging professions (new technologies, automotive, agri-food, offshoring) will pay 24,000 DH for training of the same duration. It is planned to train 6,400 graduates by the end of 2009.
According to recruitment professionals, only 15 to 20% of executive recruitment goes through private firms. The rest is done through informal networks (recommendations, among others).
Recruitment: Strong CV Required!
The Invest RH firm conducted a survey on new recruitment trends in Morocco. Its conclusions will be presented this morning at the HR Forum in Casablanca. Companies have tightened selection, while the recruitment process is becoming more professional. In addition, executive mobility is increasing. Khadija Boughaba, general manager of Invest RH, analyzes these results.
Are companies considering new ways of recruiting? This is the essential question that recruitment firms in Morocco are asking themselves. Currently, companies are demanding very specific profiles and systematically requiring experience for management positions. "The problem of this over-selection contributes to the difficulty of integrating young graduates who are already poorly prepared to face the obstacles of professional life," comments Khadija Boughaba, general manager of Invest RH.
Indeed, according to the survey, "candidates are overwhelmed by employers' demands; they cry out in despair because, despite their training, they are finding it increasingly difficult to find a job. Without experience on their CV, there is no chance of getting a job." A logical requirement due to the competitive environment and its performance constraints weighing on companies.
The immediate consequence is a widening gap between supply and demand in the labor market. One of the answers to this phenomenon is the professionalization of university curricula. Training programs better adapted to market needs are being introduced in faculties, which are also multiplying partnerships with companies. Some have adopted training formulas with mandatory internships in companies, the only way to increase the employability and chances of integration of their graduates.
The second major conclusion of the Invest RH survey: the candidates interviewed (3,000) would like companies to make recruitment a strategic management act in its own right and to build professional and personalized relationships. In reality, we are far from that.
The adoption of new search and communication tools via the Internet has generated new expectations among candidates in terms of processing time and feedback. This awareness requires professionalization of the recruitment process, both in companies and among intermediaries.
"We are witnessing a disruption in the candidate-company relationship," observes the CEO of Invest RH. This is the result of several factors, including the revitalization of the labor market through the massive creation of jobs in certain sectors such as construction or offshoring. Profiles with rare and sought-after expertise increase "bids." Finally, it appears that executives are becoming increasingly unfaithful. As a new development, changing employers is no longer only motivated by financial considerations. As much as salary, social benefits, continuing education, and the management style practiced in the company are attractive factors for a company and are part of its "HR marketing." These elements are clearly pillars of loyalty.
Managers, and some "despots" among them, should pay close attention to this evolution if they do not want to see their best employees leave for the competition.
Vanessa Pellegrin
Posted online on February 3, 2009
Yabiladi
Recruitment difficulties affect almost all sectors, especially those experiencing strong growth: tourism, textiles, construction, call centers, new technologies, etc. In the construction sector, professionals in Tangier raised the alarm, with the lack of technicians with a bac +2 level threatening infrastructure projects in the region.
The skills crisis will be a central topic at the HR Forum in Morocco, opening this morning in Casablanca, an event organized by MRH. Several managers and HR specialists are expected at this event. All the experts interviewed agree: this "tension" is due to the gap between educational offerings and the needs of companies, but also to the lack of flexibility in the education system. As a result, the number of unemployed graduates has never been so high, and in most cases, young people are forced to accept jobs below their skill level. Call centers, for example, are now massively recruiting at the bac +4 level.
Despite some successes, professional training is not popular with HR managers. What is criticized? It is not complete and rigorous enough. Tourism, with double-digit growth rates, is undoubtedly the sector where the situation is most critical. Finding qualified waiters or chefs is almost a "miracle." In addition, there is an outflow of skilled workers to Spain, which has signed labor immigration agreements with Morocco. These are mainly experienced workers who are leaving, taking advantage of better conditions offered by the Spanish. Moroccan companies, particularly in the hotel industry, are on the defensive, unable to improve their attractiveness.
Training needs are enormous compared to investments in the sector. On the ground, despite efforts, the system is struggling to keep up. Azzelarab Kettani, president of the National Federation of Restaurateurs (FNR) and president of the training commission of the Hotel Federation, confirms: "Trainers lack professional experience, and the program is years away from the reality in the tourism industry; many teachers have never set foot in a hotel and know almost nothing about the profession." In fairness to these training institutions, there is a lack of involvement from professionals who are quick to criticize their shortcomings. In a field where the rule is apprenticeship training, young people have great difficulty finding host companies.
A significant proportion of employees in tourism currently have a baccalaureate level or less, reveals the president of the FNR. Often, they end up there not because the sector is very attractive, but because it represents a "safety net." In reality, the majority of tourism companies must also sweep in front of their own doors by improving their social attractiveness.
"The system we find ourselves in is a dead end: we train people while fearing they will go to the competition; if we don't train them, they are not operational, and we lose productivity," observes Azzelarab Kettani. In short, it's a vicious cycle. It takes between 6 and 8 months for credible training in the tourism sector. The same is true for call centers. Jérôme Mouthon, general manager of Sysnek France and Cerdis Morocco, specializing in telemarketing and web marketing, says he regularly receives people from general education who imagine joining his company "simply because they speak French." However, it is much more complicated than that: not only do you have to speak French correctly, but you also have to be motivated. Motivation is needed, it's true, in an activity with demanding hours and not always good pay.
Salaries range from 3,500 to 4,500 dirhams per month for an experienced operator. However, the bad reputation of call centers is due to working conditions and constant stress. The most successful companies generally offer their employees a social compensation system: weekly or monthly bonuses based on the teleoperator's performance, a pleasant work environment with rooms equipped for smokers, and above all, the full declaration of the number of employees to the CNSS (this is not necessarily a given everywhere).
The relatively high turnover, averaging 10% per month, in call centers is one of the equations that HR managers in this sector must solve. Faced with the qualified personnel crisis, employers poach good employees without hesitation. In the long run, this ends up destabilizing the entire organization.
Newspapers are full of advertisements recruiting thousands of tele-operators every week. One of the consequences of this "skills shortage" is pressure on salaries. This could ultimately threaten the price competitiveness of the destination, one of its selling points for investors in call centers.
Faced with the difficulties young people have adapting, companies have integrated training into their "recruitment package." This is an additional investment that can reach significant sums and, in some cases, push back the profitability threshold of a project. It is no coincidence that conventional schemes include partial coverage of employee (on-the-job) training.
The textile industry, which is making a spectacular comeback after a period of decline, is facing a severe shortage. It lacks not only skilled workers and technicians but also, and this is perhaps a new development, managers. While it is unfair to paint everyone with the same brush, the textile industry has a bad image (largely deserved) because of its outdated social conditions. For many people, working in textiles today is synonymous with exploitation. This means low attractiveness and difficulty in attracting talent to the market.
As a result of its move up the value chain, the sector also suffers from a lack of niche specialists such as fabric stylists and maintenance personnel in furniture making.
More generally, the use of illiterate and exploitable labor will end due to the evolution of this industry and its upgrading (see Emergence plan). It is also not possible to rely on "undeclared work" to improve cost competitiveness. Subcontracting as it has been practiced for decades is doomed to disappear, with competitiveness based primarily on the quality and productivity of human resources.
Leveraging Salary Supplements
Faced with the scarcity of talent, companies are competing in ingenuity to improve their social attractiveness. They are willing to pay for skills by establishing compensatory benefits such as bonuses or health insurance, explains Mohamed Benouarrek, HR director of Novartis. For certain profiles, such as engineers, the situation has truly changed, admits an HR manager from a telecoms operator during a debate organized by the Diorh group. A few years ago, he reveals, graduates of the INPT (National Institute of Posts and Telecommunications) lined up at Maroc Telecom. "Today, they have become impossible to find!"
In this context of a generalized crisis, HR managers agree on one point: "we must invest heavily" without falling into the trap of salary inflation. Investing heavily also means knowing how to optimize the periphery of the salary, for example. According to a survey by the Diorh firm, companies are using this lever. The most common salary supplements are: company cars, which are increasingly extended to middle management, fuel cards, which replace mileage allowances, social assistance loans, stock options, particularly in subsidiaries of American firms, coverage of graduate training programs, a tool also used to retain executives.
Anapec Mechanisms
Anapec is the main public employment intermediary. However, most transactions escape it, as the agency focuses on unemployed people in great difficulty, in accordance with its terms of reference. For their recruitment, more and more companies, particularly in call centers and hotels, use Anapec's database through the Idmaj program (insertion-employment) and its advantages. The Idmaj insertion contract grants companies exemption from social security contributions and income tax for 24 months on salaries. The only conditions are that candidates must have a baccalaureate or higher or professional education diploma and have been registered in Anapec's database for at least six months. This tool has been very successful with SMEs and sectors with high intensity of direct labor use.
Contractualized training for employment is the second partnership tool with companies. Based on a firm hiring promise, the Agency concludes a training-retraining agreement with the company for job seekers. Beneficiaries must have at least a baccalaureate, be registered in the agency's database, and be selected by the employer. Companies contribute 40 dirhams per hour per participant, with a ceiling of 10,000 dirhams per year.
Young firms operating in emerging professions (new technologies, automotive, agri-food, offshoring) will pay 24,000 DH for training of the same duration. It is planned to train 6,400 graduates by the end of 2009.
According to recruitment professionals, only 15 to 20% of executive recruitment goes through private firms. The rest is done through informal networks (recommendations, among others).
Recruitment: Strong CV Required!
The Invest RH firm conducted a survey on new recruitment trends in Morocco. Its conclusions will be presented this morning at the HR Forum in Casablanca. Companies have tightened selection, while the recruitment process is becoming more professional. In addition, executive mobility is increasing. Khadija Boughaba, general manager of Invest RH, analyzes these results.
Are companies considering new ways of recruiting? This is the essential question that recruitment firms in Morocco are asking themselves. Currently, companies are demanding very specific profiles and systematically requiring experience for management positions. "The problem of this over-selection contributes to the difficulty of integrating young graduates who are already poorly prepared to face the obstacles of professional life," comments Khadija Boughaba, general manager of Invest RH.
Indeed, according to the survey, "candidates are overwhelmed by employers' demands; they cry out in despair because, despite their training, they are finding it increasingly difficult to find a job. Without experience on their CV, there is no chance of getting a job." A logical requirement due to the competitive environment and its performance constraints weighing on companies.
The immediate consequence is a widening gap between supply and demand in the labor market. One of the answers to this phenomenon is the professionalization of university curricula. Training programs better adapted to market needs are being introduced in faculties, which are also multiplying partnerships with companies. Some have adopted training formulas with mandatory internships in companies, the only way to increase the employability and chances of integration of their graduates.
The second major conclusion of the Invest RH survey: the candidates interviewed (3,000) would like companies to make recruitment a strategic management act in its own right and to build professional and personalized relationships. In reality, we are far from that.
The adoption of new search and communication tools via the Internet has generated new expectations among candidates in terms of processing time and feedback. This awareness requires professionalization of the recruitment process, both in companies and among intermediaries.
"We are witnessing a disruption in the candidate-company relationship," observes the CEO of Invest RH. This is the result of several factors, including the revitalization of the labor market through the massive creation of jobs in certain sectors such as construction or offshoring. Profiles with rare and sought-after expertise increase "bids." Finally, it appears that executives are becoming increasingly unfaithful. As a new development, changing employers is no longer only motivated by financial considerations. As much as salary, social benefits, continuing education, and the management style practiced in the company are attractive factors for a company and are part of its "HR marketing." These elements are clearly pillars of loyalty.
Managers, and some "despots" among them, should pay close attention to this evolution if they do not want to see their best employees leave for the competition.
Vanessa Pellegrin
Posted online on February 3, 2009
Yabiladi
