Source: American Management Association

The competitive pressures of our increasingly global economy are forcing American firms to change the way they operate in order to be more productive. These changes in the ways firms do business frequently require more from workers than was needed in the past. According to Terri Bergman of the National Alliance of Business, in Workplace Brief #4 of the National Alliance of Business, today's firms need workers who not only are able to read, write, speak, and understand English, but who also have mathematics, problem solving, and interpersonal skills, which form the foundation for almost all productive work as well as all productivity improvement efforts.

Investing in the development of employees' basic workplace skills does not have to be difficult. There are many programs and resources companies can tap into for assistance.

Deficient Skills and the Bottom Line

The cost of not training employees in basic workplace skills can be high indeed, the Brief from the NAB suggests. Located at the National Workforce Assistance Collaborative website (www.psu.edu/institutes/nwac), the Brief notes how employers have confirmed that poor reading skills have caused everything from workplace deaths to costly errors. The danger of correspondence being misread and employees unable to follow instruction manuals have meant that employees have to be taught how to operate machines in a mentoring fashion.

In addition to affecting a company's financial performance, deficient skills impair productivity improvement programs. New technologies and equipment require workers who can read and follow complex instructions. Statistical process controls call for a basic command of statistics and probability. Self-managed teams require employees who can communicate clearly and effectively. For example:

• One manufacturing company reported that one employee who didn't know how to read a ruler mismeasured yards of steel sheet wasted almost $700 worth of material in one morning.
• The same company invested heavily in equipment to regulate inventories and production schedules. Unfortunately, workers entered numbers inaccurately, which destroyed inventory records and resulted in production orders for the wrong products. Correcting the errors cost the company millions of dollars and wiped out anticipated savings from the new equipment.
• A Central Florida microchip manufacturer reported that 85 of every 100 applicants for production jobs were rejected because they could not read and follow directions.

Benefits of Basic Skills Programs

A 1993 study by the W.E. Upjohn Institute revealed that basic workplace skills programs may raise employee productivity between 10 and 20 percent. A 1992 Southport Institute for Policy Analysis study found that such programs improve attitudes, behaviors, and (not surprisingly) profits. Other research and actual company experience have shown additional benefits, including:

• Greater willingness to use reading and writing at work
• Greater willingness to use reading and writing at work
• Higher employee participation in meetings
• A greater willingness to ask more questions and make suggestions
• Improved attendance and workplace safety
• Less scrap, fewer production errors, and improved communications (including better production reports)

Increased sales volume, work flow, and on-time deliveries

• Higher performance ratings from supervisors
• As the NAB Brief observes, there is little doubt that basic workplace skills training is a sound investment for both employers and employees. Most companies involved in research studies report that the programs' benefits outweighed their costs.

Where Can You Start?

You don't have to develop and deliver workplace skills programs yourself. Here are several organizations that are skilled in developing, customizing, and delivering such programs. Some may be able to do so at little or no charge, depending on available federal, state, and local government funding:

• Community colleges

Adult education centers in your school districts

• Non-profit, community-based adult literacy organizations
• For-profit training firms
• Volunteer basic skills programs

The better the quality of a basic workplace skills program, the greater its benefits. Companies that are thinking of launching an in-house program should make sure that it:

• Links training goals to your company's goals
• Teaches and relates basic skills to workplace requirements and other workforce initiatives
• Encourages employees to transfer and apply the skills they learned in the classroom to their daily jobs
• Tailors training to employee needs and encourages employee participation
• Employs highly skilled instructors

Basic workplace skills programs aren't expensive. For many small and mid-sized companies, there may be little expense beyond the time involved to plan the program and release employees from work to attend classes. There are many ways that companies can keep the costs of their basic skills programs low:

• The federal government and many state governments offer grants to subsidize the cost of basic workplace skills programs.
• Some states offer tax credits for basic workplace skills programs.
• Many community colleges charge only the delivery costs associated with their basic skills programs, essentially underwriting all the development costs.
• Some unions will share the costs of basic skills programs with employers.
• Some volunteer basic skills programs charge companies only for designing and supervising the activities. Their volunteers provide delivery.

This article content is Copyright 1997, American Management Association. All rights reserved.

The American Management Association International is a leading membership-based management development and training organization.

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