Background information

With the BIO scheme, employers can get funding to raise the competence of their employees so that they can keep their job. The aim of the BIO scheme is also to prevent employees from being excluded from the labour market in connection with ​restructuring processes. The measure is outlined in the regulations on labour market measures , which was implemented in January 2016.

Content of measure

The BIO scheme is created for companies that need to make a major change to their production or establish themselves in new markets, and the aim is also to prevent employees from being excluded from the labour market in connection with ​restructuring processes. With the BIO scheme, employers can get funding to raise the competence of their employees so that they can keep their job.

The BIO scheme has traditionally been invoked in connection with major restructuring processes, where they are seen to have substantial labour market effects; an example would be a cornerstone company (a company with major importance for local communities) facing major financial challenges. Companies can apply for co-funding of training measures to ease the restructuring process, and for contribution to wage expenses. The training may be related to changes in production methods, transition to new products or services, changes in manufacturing equipment.

The training period for participants should not exceed 26 weeks as a rule, unless employees rotate between training courses and work. Funding may include:

• Expenses on trainings.
• Travelling expenses.
• Equipment necessary for training purposes.
• Expenses to counselling related to training.
• Wages for participants.
• Expenses on trainings must be at least 1/3 of the funding, while expenses to cover wages cannot exceed 2/3. The funding cannot exceed more than 70% of the total cost of the training.

The period of training for each participant can last up to 26 weeks.

From 1 January 2020, the BIO scheme was transferred from the state to the regional county councils. As part of the governments' response to COVID-19, the state funding for the scheme was almost doubled, from NOK 55 million (€5.28 million as of 31 August 2020) to NOK 105 million (€10.09 million). On 20 April 2020, the government also introduced a temporary scheme where you can combine training, such as provided through the BIO, and education with unemployment benefit without an application.

Use of measure

There is little information about the use of the measure, except from a list of companies that have been granted money from the BIO-scheme each months. The budget for the measure in NOK 20,438,000, which is about €2 million. This was more than double the amount of the budget from the year before.

An evaluation from 2010 shows that companies find the scheme useful, and claim to have laid off fewer employees temporarily, that employees have increased their competence and that the company has had a market growth.

The evaluation report points at some weaknesses:

• the scheme is limited to 26 weeks, and this limits what kind of training that can be undertaken;
• applying for funding can be time consuming; it is not easy to combine training with production in situations where the company receive an order for a customer during the training period.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the government found that many companies required measures to counteract redundancies and dismissals, while also contributing to skills development. Therefore, the government in 2021 proposed a temporary increase of NOK 200 million (approximately €18 million) in the framework grant for in-house training (BIO) to the county authorities. The aim was to help the county authorities adapt their efforts towards businesses affected by the virus outbreak (Prop. 79 S (2020–2021)).

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Employees in standard employment	Applies to all businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
Company / Companies Local / regional government Public employment service	National funds Regional funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Unknown	Unknown
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: Unknown

Involvement

Unknown

Views and reactions

Unknown

Sources

• 01 December 2010: Evaluering av BIO og AMO i bedrift (evalueringsportalen.no)
• 01 December 2010: Arbeids- og velferdsdirektoratet. Evaluering av BIO og AMO i bedrift VELFERDSDIREKTORATET EVALUERING AV BIO OG AMO I BEDRIFT (kudos.dfo.no)
• 01 January 2016: Regulations on labor market measures (Administrative regulation - forskrift om arbeidsrettede tiltak) (lovdata.no)
• 01 December 2020: Subsidy for in-house training (Tilskudd til bedriftsintern opplæring) (www.nav.no)
• 18 March 2021: Competence replenishment and in-company training during corona (www.nhosh.no)
• 14 October 2022: In-company training (NHO) (www.nho.no)
• 14 October 2022: Subsidy for internal company training (Oslo kommune) (www.oslo.kommune.no)