Employees working conditions

Sectoral social partners shall be committed to promoting continuous and fruitful social dialogue, in order to always safeguard good working conditions for employees

Internships and apprenticeships

To get young people onboard and increase the attractiveness of the sector, leverage on internships and/or apprenticeships opportunities. This will also help them to acquire the necessary set of skills and competences

BELGIUM | Young workers day – a company visit with a preparatory class in school and a dialogue with company employees

In the frame of the EU project Turn The Page, Indufed in cooperation with two paper mills in Belgium and the communications agency Good Planet, has organized a project for school classes in the vicinity of 2 paper producers in which the classes/schools go through the following process:
1. They have a conversation with GoodPlanet about the course of the project (different stages and project planning) followed by a preparatory activity in the classroom based on the papier.be teaching sheets (exist in two languages – sheet for the teacher and online teaching module to be completed independently by the pupils)
2. A day trip to the factory where they have a company visit and they prepare and have a dialogue with company managers / HR / sustainability department – addressing their questions, expectations, what is stopping them for applying with a pulp and paper company, etc
3. Evaluation by teachers and pupils

Key stakeholders:
– Schools
– Pulp and paper companies
– potentialy also municipalities

Specific Benefits:
The young people do not only get to see a paper company but they also learn about the sector and prepare for a fruitful dialogue with employees in the company so that they can ask targeted questions. The pulp and paper mills do benefit as a personal contact with young people who are potential future employees is established and they also learn what matters to the students

Conditions for success:
– Companies involvement: to show their factories but also to offer further time for discussion with key employees (in HR, Management, sustainability depot,..)
– Schools /teachers to allow both the preparatory work and the time for the company visit
– investment in a third party (eg an agency) guiding and accompanying the process

ITALY | Lucca Paper Educational District – Master Degree “Technology and production of paper and cardboard”

Lucca paper district plays a strategic role in the Italian national industry, with more than 100 companies and a strong connection with the territory, and with a strong commitment to the educational world.
During the last decades, thanks to the dedication, engagement and cooperation between the industrial sector, university, high technical institutes and Confindustria Toscana Nord – the local branch of the National Industry Association – they have been able to build an extraordinary technical education system. The general purpose is to train young people transmitting them technical knowledge and to attract and retain skilled young workers in the pulp and paper industry.
By building a structed educational system, that is organized through different levels, they work with the aim of transferring and increasing the professional skills and expertise of the young people, in order to help them obtaining high level competences that are valuable for the paper industry. These educational initiatives are part of a complex system, starting from the guidance seminars organized in the middle school, to technical high school courses specifically designed on pulp and paper industry needs, to the higher level of university education.

Brief description of the best practice:
Pisa University and FLAFR (Lucca Foundation of higher education and research) are the first Institutions to start a Master Degree in Italy thanks to their experience with the successful seventeen previous editions of the Master “Paper and Cardboard”.
Master Degree in “Technology and production of paper and cardboard” is a two year University course and it is articulated in different managing and engineering classes, all taught in English for national and international students by academic professors and professional managers.
The course is characterized by its innovative didactic structure, where university professors and industrial managers’ skills complement each other with the aim to provide a rigorous academic preparation, which can be immediately spent in the business world. The course arises from the needs expressed by the representatives of the paper and corrugated cardboard sectors with the aim to attract young skilled people. It is also obvious how specialized training can only be performed with a strong synergy among University, business world and territory.
The participation to the Master Degree is also a tool to retain young workers, giving them the possibility to attend to an advanced University course that allows to increase their technical capabilities.

Key stakeholders:
– Pulp and paper companies as main actor in defining and establishing the technical knowledge essential to the sector
– Universities as primary player in the transmission of the knowledge to the young students

Specific Benefits:
Master degree in “Technology and production of paper and cardboard” arises from the important Paper and Cardboard Industry, which needs engineers well educated in its specific subjects. Graduates in “Technology and Production of Paper and Cardboard” will have the chance to continue their studies in higher education as well as to pursue careers in the paper and paperboard industry, public and private research institutions and other industrial enterprises where the knowledge of processes, materials and the enabling technologies for Industry 4.0 and Circular Economy are specifically relevant.

Conditions for success:
– Companies involvement in terms of technical human resources, essential for structuring a specialist training program, and availability for carrying out workshops, lectures, internships, tutoring
– Strong relationship between University and companies
– Continuous updating of teaching modules
– Strong promotional activities to sponsor the initiative

ITALY | Lucca Paper Educational District – Post graduate specialization course “Paper19”

Lucca paper district plays a strategic role in the Italian national industry, with more than 100 companies and a strict connection with the territory, that is fulfilled also with a strong commitment to the educational world.
During the last decades, thanks to the dedication, engagement and cooperation between the industrial sector, university, high technical institutes and Confindustria Toscana Nord – the local branch of the National Industry Association – they have been able to build an extraordinary technical education system. The general purpose is to train young people transmitting them technical knowledge and to attract and retain skilled young workers in the pulp and paper industry.
By building a structed educational system, that is organized through different levels, they work with the aim of transferring and increasing the professional skills and expertise of the young people, in order to help them obtaining high level competences that are valuable for the paper industry. These educational initiatives are part of a complex system, starting from the guidance seminars organized in the middle school, to technical high school courses specifically designed on pulp and paper industry needs, to the higher level of university education.

Brief description of the best practice:
Paper19 is a two-year post graduate specialization course developed to train young graduate technicians and qualify them as SUPERIOR TECHNICIANS FOR PRODUCTION IN THE PAPER SECTOR. The course consists of 2000 hours of training: 1200 hours take place in classrooms/laboratories, while an 800 hours internship is organized in the companies.
This specialization has been realized thanks to the ITS PRIME Foundation, that requested the total funding of the initiative to the regional government.
ITS Prime, cooperating with Formetica and the associated companies of the paper and paper converting supply chain, structured the two-year course in coordination with Assocarta, Celsius, Lucense and Start, a professional technical center in which all the technical institutes of the territory participate (Polo Fermi-Giorgi, ISIS of the Lucca plain, ISI Garfagnana, IIS Galilei in Viareggio, Marchi-Forti Institute in Pescia).
This specialization course is characterized by the top quality of the training delivered, as well as a high percentage of placement at the end of the course (over 90%).

Key stakeholders:
– Teachers
– Pulp and Paper companies
– Students (graduates, aged between 18 and 29)

Specific Benefits:
– For teachers: most of them are first of all employees of the Paper companies, so providing the students with a practical and theoretical training perfectly aligned with the business requisitions. This is a way to carry out an initial training very specific to potential future workers.
– For companies: they are the main beneficiaries of highly qualified human resources who have been trained on specific content that are based upon their needs.
– For students: through these courses, graduated students reach a theoretical and practical education in a very short time, thus allowing them to know the companies located in the territory and tohave a live experience during the internship.

Conditions for success:
– Companies involvement in terms of technical human resources, essential for structuring a specialist training program, and availability for carrying out workshops, lectures, internships, tutoring;
– Strong local promotional activities to sponsor the initiatives

POLAND | End of the school year: scholarships

As part of the International Paper’s collaboration with the school Complex No. 2 in Kwidzyn, scholarships are awareded to the best students in grades II, III.

Key stakeholders:
– School Complex No. 2 in Kwidzyn
– International Paper

Conditions for success:
There needs to be a greater focus on local activities.

GERMANY | Build up an apprenticeship envoy concept

At WEPA Germany, one of the key aims is to train committed apprentices in presentation techniques so that they can present the company and what their apprenticeship is about at career information fairs, training fairs and in schools. Train apprenticeship envoys to work with them as a team at trade fairs, in schools and on apprenticeship days to increase the visibility of and the focus on the profession of a paper technologist.

Key stakeholders:
– Company
– Apprentices

Specific Benefits:
Address target groups directly and promote both, the internal commitment of apprentices and the external commitment of future apprentices.

Conditions for success:
– Finding the right applicants for the right apprenticeships
– Finding committed apprentices who are happy to spread the messagea and actively use training envoys in the company

GERMANY | Internships and project weeks with local associations

Essity Germany offers internships for students to get to know the paper professions at first hand. Essity also participates in project weeks with local associations.

Key stakeholders:
– Company
– Pupils in school/participants of special programs

Specific Benefits:
Interships offer the possibility to get personal contact to pupils, and allowing company and pupils get to know each other better.

Conditions for success:
There is the need to have on-site support.

ITALY | Lucca Paper Educational District – Paper technology working group

Lucca paper district plays a strategic role in the Italian national industry, with more than 100 companies and a strong connection with the territory, and with a strong commitment to the educational world.
During the last decades, thanks to the dedication, engagement and cooperation between the industrial sector, university, high technical institutes and Confindustria Toscana Nord – the local branch of the National Industry Association – they have been able to build an extraordinary technical education system. The general purpose is to train young people transmitting them technical knowledge and to attract and retain skilled young workers in the pulp and paper industry.
By building a structed educational system, that is organized through different levels, they work with the aim of transferring and increasing the professional skills and expertise of the young people, in order to help them obtaining high level competences that are valuable for the paper industry. These educational initiatives are part of a complex system, starting from the guidance seminars organized in the middle school, to technical high school courses specifically designed on pulp and paper industry needs, to the higher level of university education.

Brief description of the best practice:
A Paper Technology Working Group project has the goal to create/reinforce the link between education and industry, making both sides aware of the respective needs. The aim of the project is to promote the awareness of the skills required by young people in the professional world and to connect students, teachers, families and companies in order to facilitate young peoples’ choice in terms of training and work paths. The challenge concerns both schools and companies.
The former working on the skills that are functional to the professional world and acting to renew the methodological approach favouring interdisciplinarity, laboratory teaching, problem solving, project work and self-entrepreneurship. The latter becoming more focused on the educational aspect, transmitting to the young people skills and tasks required in the daily job.
The meetings are also focused on adapting the school programmes to the industry needs in order to make the training plan much more suitable to the knowledge and skills required in the workplace.
Another activity of the project consists in career counselling events planned during the year for the middle school and high school students.
The working group organises also the convention “Carta Bianca al tuo Futuro” (Carte blanche to your Future), a conference open to the students, their families, stakeholders and dedicated to promotet the leading role of the paper sector in the local territory also in terms of job opportunities.

Key stakeholders:
– Teachers
– Pulp and paper companies
– Students

Specific Benefits:
– For teachers: to encourage students when choosing their school and training path, to have a better knowledge of the different job roles and of the training needed to be able to access them and, more generally, to support more conscious life choices with respect to their aspirations and vocations and to the real opportunities and demands coming from the business world
– For companies: The initiative allows the enterprise to be more recognisable within the territory, promoting its social role and its training function. Opening its doors to the school means making itself known to students, their teachers and their families, and to be an active player in defining what is actually taught to the next generation. A stronger relationship is thus created between the company and the local area in which it operates
– For students: the activity aims to encourage young people to choose their training and work paths with awareness and competence

Conditions for success:
– Companies involvement in terms of technical human resources
– Strong relationship between teachers and companies
– Strong local promotional activities to sponsor the initiatives