<p>Background: As the economy turns up and down, and companies sometimes face loosing employees, it is important for them to make sure they do not loose competence at the same time. Therefore a need to handle competence efficiently exist. </p><p>Purpose. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate what measures companies take to minimise the risk of loosing competence from the company, at times of layoffs and in general. </p><p>Methodology: We mainly used interviews to gather information. Three competence intensive companies participated in the study. By competence intensive we mean companies that continuously need competence to develop and produce their products. All companies were in the technology sector. </p><p>Conclusion: The companies were surprisingly passive when it came to managing competences, especially tacit competences. The work of continuously handling competences was left to the unit managers, and was not dealt with company-wide. The measures used are similar in all companies, as well as the fact that they have not changed those measures after the layoffs. This could be a result of that they worked well, or that they have no better alternatives. All companies used routines as a mean of capturing competence, but had realised that routines could never replace the individual competences. Instead they tried to create an environment at the companies where competence sharing was a part of the daily work, e.g. by evaluating employees through variables connected to competence sharing.</p>

Background: As the economy turns up and down, and companies sometimes face loosing employees, it is important for them to make sure they do not loose competence at the same time. Therefore a need to handle competence efficiently exist. Purpose. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate what measures companies take to minimise the risk of loosing competence from the company, at times of layoffs and in general. Methodology: We mainly used interviews to gather information. Three competence intensive companies participated in the study. By competence intensive we mean companies that continuously need competence to develop and produce their products. All companies were in the technology sector. Conclusion: The companies were surprisingly passive when it came to managing competences, especially tacit competences. The work of continuously handling competences was left to the unit managers, and was not dealt with company-wide. The measures used are similar in all companies, as well as the fact that they have not changed those measures after the layoffs. This could be a result of that they worked well, or that they have no better alternatives. All companies used routines as a mean of capturing competence, but had realised that routines could never replace the individual competences. Instead they tried to create an environment at the companies where competence sharing was a part of the daily work, e.g. by evaluating employees through variables connected to competence sharing.