Transforming Automotive Workforce: Contemporary Pillars of The Employee Development

Purpose – The research deals with the investigation of the contemporary pillars and trends in employee training and development practices with a primary focus on the automotive industry. Aims(s) – The main objective of this research was to formulate the precise trends in formatting the current processes of automotive employee development. Design/methodology/approach – The author adopted a qualitative research method to analyze contemporary trends in automotive. Eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with small, medium, and large companies to gain applicable outcomes. Following this step, the author categorized the results into five employee development pillars, demonstrating current trends. Findings – The research outcomes indicate several critical insights from the semistructured interviews. Based on the results, five primary pillars (trends) for automotive employee training and development were proposed. These findings can guide automotive enterprises in terms of designing effective training programs that manage present needs and future perspectives. Limitations of the study – The study is exploring data and companies stated within the Central European region. Due to the various specifics, it will be beneficial to explore in-depth the data from other European regions to better understand overall consequences of employee development within the European automotive context. As well as, the study is based on the qualitative results, that may bring individual approach of specific managers. Hence, accomplishing by the quantitative method can support the data validity and value for nowadays business environment. Originality/value – This study provides valuable outcomes to better understand the foundation of employee development in the automotive industry. As a result, this research addresses the current theoretical/practical gap in this field. The results of interviews conducted bring unique, diverse perspectives on the future direction of employee development in the automotive industry.