Certification Regulation and Scheme
In this activity, the main result of the project has been produced: a brand-new and innovative certification scheme and regulation for organisations that will strategically establish, sustain, and promote holistic workplace learning.
The project consortium developed a certification scheme and regulation that covers a real need within organisations: nowadays, there is a demand for lifelong learning including at work, especially by people of younger generations that constitute the workforce of the future. Through the “Learning Workplace” certification, organisations ensure the constant learning of their employees, which equals to a prosperous work environment, satisfied employees, and employee retention. Also, such a certificate is a driver for further improvement of workplaces in terms of innovation and developments in their field of activities.
The certification regulation addresses the organisations, that is, it includes all the information that an organisation needs to be aware of in order to put their transformation into action and be awarded the “Learning Workplace” certification. The certification scheme has been developed for audit bοdies, that is, it additionally comprises guidelines on how to conduct the audit and ensure compliance with the prerequisites and provisions of the regulation.
Consulting to Organisations and Certification
The main achievement of the project is the certification of 6 organisations from different parts of Europe (southeastern Europe: Cyprus – Nicosia and Limassol, and Greece – Larissa, southwestern Europe: Spain – Valencia, and central Europe: France – Marseille and Austria – Gratz) with the newly developed and recently launched “Learning Workplace” certification. These 6 organisations are the first officially certified “Learning Workplaces” across Europe, which can act as ambassadors for workplace learning and the promotion of the certification within their networks of partners, clients, colleagues, and beneficiaries.
In order to conclude on the effectiveness, comprehensiveness, and level of acceptance by the organisations of the brand-new certification regulation and scheme, the certification was pilot tested within organisations. The project partners encountered the end recipients and users of the main project result: organisations in all the countries of the consortium, which could constitute a representative sample for testing and adapting the content and provisions of the certification.
The pilot testing entailed the following processes: 1) consulting, 2) pilot application for transformation, 3) audit, and 4) certification, undertaken by consultants, auditors, and the Cyprus Certification Company, applied in a sequential mode. People from both within and outside the consortium were trained on providing consulting to organisations on the application of the certification (selection of the most appropriate learning activities for the organisations, effective application, and certification of the organisations), consisting a network of consultants for the new certification. These consultants can now promote the certification and support more organisations in getting transformed.
A one-month pilot transformation period followed before the participating organisations were audited and all of them awarded the “Learning Workplace” certification. The group of auditors trained within LEARN conducted audits upon completion of the required consulting sessions with organisations to ensure compliance with the requirements of the certification scheme and based on the audit results, the Cyprus Certification Company decided for their certification.