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How literate are your workers?
According to a new AI Group report, more than three in four employers are affected by low levels of literacy and numeracy, and associated problems are compromising productivity and safety.
Based on roundtable discussions with 58 employers and a survey of 338 companies, the National Workforce Literacy Project Report found 40% of the most common issues surrounded poor completion of workplace documents. Time wasted was also rated highly.
30% reported material waste (due to incorrect calculations or misinterpreted instructions), limited benefit from training and development initiatives (including e-learning), adverse effects due to communication problems and recruitment difficulties.
The Round-table discussions identified limited literacy skills impacted on workplace safety impaired staff ability to follow safety instructions and read standard operating procedures.
It was identified that workers who had a reasonable level of skill were still unable to complete some tasks to the necessary standard. These included use of appropriate language in written material for website, email content and publications as well as using appropriate approaches for team based problem solving.
The attached report also indicates that some employers say that even workers with high-level technical skills, such as engineers, can be poor communicators in workplace settings.
Proposed Solutions? Align skill development with individual needs.
Approximately 40% of businesses surveyed agreed they had to play a part in workplace literacy and numeracy. Nearly one in three address the problem by using in-house training. Many favour approaches which align individual skill development needs with support from other staff, such as team leaders.
Many employers agreed that building the ability of managers and supervisors to coach or mentor employees with development needs would be "an effective approach for overcoming literacy and numeracy issues, especially those that are impacting on the uptake and success of other workplace learning".
Other specific measures included:
- running short courses on report and business writing;
- using in-house communication training such as programs to improve spelling and presentation skills for sales representatives;
- offering online resources to develop report-writing skills;
- running workshops for writing standard operating procedures, supported by visual components;
- re-writing workplace documents such as complex manuals, standard operating procedures and technical information to make them more accessible;
- offering English as a second language training; and
- helping apprentices complete log books during work time.
Some employers had also developed their own literacy tests to assess the skills of potential employees in the screening phase.
Source: Information gathered from HR Daily.
