Erasmus + Entrepreneurship: Imagination@work Questionnaire results

1. Aste Põhikool
Estonia
Labour force research

2. Saaremaa Parish

3. Section 1
Employment trends and local
labour market information

4. What is the adult population in your
region/country?
According to Statistics Estonia the
population of Estonia is 1 318 700 (1st
Jan. 2018)
Saaremaa Parish 31 819 (1st Jan. 2018)
Adult population in Estonia about 647 000
(16 years to retirement age)


5. What is the employment rate/ labour force
participation?
In Estonia 4,8% of adult population are
unemployed
In Saaremaa 4,3%, one of the lowest in
Estonia


6. How are specific groups, such as women
and youth, faring in the the labour
market?
Youth unemployment is approximately 10%
More unemployed women than men, 52%,
48%

7. What are the trends in labour force?
 Labour force is decreasing
 People live longer and labour force gets older
 Demand for highly educated labour force increases
 Labour force migration – national and religious
diversity
 Different generations on labour market at the same
time

8. What are the strongest and weakest fields of
employment in your region/country?
 Local vocational training
centre
 Good reputation of the
islanders
 Positive image of
Saaremaa – clean and
reliable
 Good living environment

 Low population density
 Lack of labour force
 Long distances
 Separation
 Low salary


9. Section 2
History (background) of the
enterprise

10. What type of business are you in?
 Production of different goods
 Car service
 Trading
 Land management
 Electronics
 Forestry economy
 Agriculture
 Banking
 Spa

11. How long have you been set up?
Average 18 years
The oldest 26 years
The newest 2.5 years

12. What is the number of
employees in your business?
Average number of employees 35
The smallest number 2
The biggest number 130
In one company 2500 employees

13. Are the majority of your employees
from this area, or outsourced? Why?
The majority of employees are from this
area, only one company uses outsourced
labour force
Location, time-consuming transport, lack of
places to live, Estonian-speaking
community

14. What age were you when you set up
your business?
Average age 29
The youngest 18
The oldest 45

15. 6. What qualifications did you have
when you started your business?

16. 7. What extra courses/education did you do
to improve your expertise/skills in a
particular area?
 Management training
 Computer training
 Language courses
 Trading training
 Small business training
 General business training
 Special courses - fire safety, risk analysis
 Internet-based learning about fishery
 Customer service course

17. 8. What difficulties did you encounter as an
employer/ while running your business?
 Lack of long term qualified labour
force
 Gaining the trust of customers
 High employment taxes
 Bureaucracy
 Long delivery deadlines, delayed
deliveries
 Finding suitable location, rooms
 Low IT skills
 Lack of language knowledge
 Motivating employees
 Estonian difficult weather
 Problems with partners
 Good price for a product
 Pests
 Labour force training
 Creating and maintaining a good
working environment
 Unpaid bills


18. 9. What advice would you give to somebody
that wants to set up their own business?
 Brave start
 Start as young as possible
 Be very sure about your business idea
 Willpower, confidence
 Patience!
 Master what you like
 Be brave enough to learn from your own mistakes
 You have to know what you do
 Consistency and will

19. Section 3
Employees

20. What soft skills do you value most in
your employees?

21. Other not mentioned above skills
Humour
Honesty
Punctuality
Independent thinking
Initiative

22. Is it important to speak any foreign languages for
your company? What languages? How many?
 It is very important to know languages, 2-3 foreign
languages
 English
 Russian
 Finnish
 Chinese
 Danish
 German

23. Recruitment process.
Where do you advertise job vacancies for
your business?

24. Other not mentioned
 From person to person, personal contacts
 Unemployment bureau
 Exhibitions (Mess)
 Internet
 Personal contacts with business partners
 Homepage
 Television, Radio
 Social media

25. Which factors would you regard as the most
crucial while hiring a new employee?

26. Other
 Skills, reliability
 Will to work
 Recommendations from previous work or school

27. Have you experienced a skills shortage
in your field of employment? What skills
are missing?
 Most of the employers have experienced skills
shortage in their field
 The overall opinion is that skills can be improved.
It’s not always important to have a diploma, the
will to learn is important

28. Promotion policy
Do you promote from within your business or recruit an
external candidate?
 Preference is to promote employees of the
company
 Depends on skills and necessity

29. Do you review your employees' performance on regular
basis? How often? Do you provide feedback?
Most employers control their workers’ job
regularly
Feedback is necessary

30. Training and Development
Do you provide training and development opportunities
for your employees?
All employers consider training their
workers very important

31. Section 4
Educational institutions - local businesses
collaboration/relationships

32. Do/could you provide training for your
potential employees? (eg work experience for
school students, internships ...etc)
Most of the employers are ready to provide
training
Only one employer was not ready

33. In your opinion / experience, are the local
educational institutions equipping our students for
work in the local labour market? If not, how can this
be improved?

34. Are you interested in collaborating with local schools by
carrying out skills workshops with the students of your
locality?
Employers mainly intrested
Problems: companies too small, lack of
resources

35. What is missing in the current education
system in your opinion?
 Lack of special teachers
 Habit to work, work practice
 Lack of economic education
 Lack of skills needed at the moment
 Lack of practical skills
 University education too theoretical


36. Section 5
Quality symbols

37. Does your products carry any nationally
or internationally recognized Quality
symbols e.g. the CE mark?
Some companies have international
quality symbols, some national
Depends on the services or production

38. Do you carry out quality checks on
your products?
Depends on the company
Food products daily, other products
when necessary

39. If so what method(s) do you use?
Visual
Testing
AOI testing- Automatic optical inspection
Inspectors from the EU, Estonian
Agricultural Board