“In the age of AI, it is vital to look after continuing training. Unfortunately, the opportunities are not what they should be. We need a framework,” said the president of the Chamber of Employees (CSL), Nora Back, on the sidelines of the presentation of Quality of Work 2025, on 4 February. Each year, the index focuses on a work-related issue. Training is the theme chosen this time, given that four out of ten employees say they have not taken any training in the past year. In the wake of this, the CSL has drawn a catalogue of ten proposals from its ideas box, following an initial position paper last autumn.

1. Steering training through three

The CSL advocates the creation of a committee bringing together employees, employers and public authorities to set priorities, evaluate existing schemes and reform continuing training in a transparent way that is adapted to the different sectors of activity.

2. Get (real) training throughout your life

The chamber wants every employee to be guaranteed a real right to training throughout their career, with concrete schemes for training or retraining.

3. Making employers responsible

To do this, employers “should be required to provide for a proportion of each employee's working time to be devoted to training”, details the CSL, for whom the measure would benefit both employees and the competitiveness of companies.

4. Removing obstacles to training

Time, funding and personalised support. On the question of time, the CSL wants to reform dedicated individual leave “to enable employees to follow long or qualifying training courses”. In its view, “80 days over an entire professional career, capped at 20 days over a two-year period, is far from enough”. As for funding, she proposes “introducing grants [...] to cover the training costs incurred”. Finally, she suggests “a high-quality personalised guidance service to support projects to upgrade skills or retrain”.

5. Better recognition of foreign qualifications

For the CSL, the recognition of qualifications obtained abroad must be simplified and accelerated in order to make better use of the skills available in Luxembourg.

6. Better recognition for VAE too...

That is, according to the chamber, transforming the validation of experience gained (VAE) into a simplified, supported scheme focused on the skills actually acquired.

7. ... and back it up with specific leave

Objective: to enable employees involved in VAE to have dedicated leave to complete their process.

8. Obtaining diplomas while working

The CSL would like to see the development of continuing training courses leading to diplomas, which are modular and compatible with employment to enable adults to obtain recognised qualifications.

9. Guaranteeing the quality of training courses

His roadmap also includes the introduction of a "national quality system", presented as simple and useful for guaranteeing the relevance of continuing training courses without adding to the administrative burden.

10. Rethinking training from secondary school onwards

The CSL is calling for a reform of initial vocational training, arguing for a complete overhaul of the lower cycle of secondary education, with more vocational guidance and the widespread use of discovery placements to help young people make their choices. In its view, apprenticeships should be better supervised thanks to digital tools shared between high schools and companies, better recognition of the role of tutors and improved allowances.

The CSL also calls for the creation of a status for disabled apprentices. Finally, it stresses the need for evolving, multilingual pathways open to higher education, as well as the rapid adaptation of programmes and facilities in the face of technological, ecological and economic transformations.