The Confederation of the Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria /KRIB/ is currently working on the project “Development of new models of digital skills in response to the challenges of the future labor market” funded under the Operational Program “Development of Human Resources” 2014 – 2020.

The project is based on a comprehensive concept of workforce support aimed at overcoming imbalances in digital knowledge and skills, meeting the needs of the labor market in a competitive and evolving economy in terms of its technological development.

Employees from various sectors of the economy in Bulgaria participated in a survey capturing the needs for digital skills in different professions and businesses across the country. Based on the gathered responses an analysis has been made which will be used as a steppingstone for the next stages of the project. On one hand it will serve as a basis for the development of unified digital skills profiles for employees in key occupation/positions. On the other the analysis will enable the design of non-formal training programs for the development of specific digital skills, according to the requirements of each profession.

As a result of the data in the analysis, the following conclusions can be summarized:

The majority of the Bulgarian companies express their readiness and willingness to implement new technologies along with the corresponding processes. The first steps have already been made with businesses having modern equipment and employees with the needed technical competences and skills. However, the lack of digital skills reduces the efficiency of the work force and makes tasks completion more difficult and time consuming.
Digitalization of all social and economic sectors will be the key to achieve competitiveness, maintain a strong industrial base and address the challenges of the twin transition.
The access to the internet is an important factor enabling the digitalization of enterprises providing them with quick and easy tool to explore digital technologies. Another aspect of this transformation is the creation of a virtual picture of the physical processes. Last but not least, if companies are to successfully implement digitalization they must embed and align it with their vision, mission, goals and values engaging every employee.
Digital transformation of enterprises results in the implementation and usage of modern digital technologies in production processes thus increasing the overall productivity and competitiveness of the end product. Employees are at the center of this transformation with companies stating the need to continuously upskill workers in the field of digitalization and new technologies.

Among the upcoming project activities are pilot testing of the created non-formal training programs for the development of specific digital skills across economic sectors, adoption of sectoral qualification frameworks for the development of digital skills. Based on the project activities, KRIB will create methodological guideline for maintaining and upskilling the digital skills of employees by sector also raise awareness among employers and employees on the importance of digital skills on the workplace.

For more information visit: https://krib.bg/bg/news/Predstaven-be-proekt-na-KRIB-za-razrabotvane-na-novi-modeli-za-digitalni-umeniya/