Huge gap in work literacy skills

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A staggering 40 per cent of Kiwi adults lack the literacy skills to carry out their jobs.

It's a statistic that is worrying everyone from Business New Zealand to the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions and specialist organisations that tackle literacy and numeracy issues such as Workbase: The New Zealand Centre for Workforce Literacy Development.

That's not to say these Kiwis are illiterate. International Adult Literacy Survey found that more than 40 per cent of adult New Zealanders, although able to read and write, have very low or low literacy levels at level one or level two.

Workers need level three literacy to fully engage in a knowledge economy, says Katherine Percy, chief executive of Workbase.

In a modern economy, literacy skills go beyond basic reading and writing. They involve giving instructions, IT skills and critical thinking.

In the workplace a low level of literacy translates into errors, wastage, accidents, absenteeism, poor teamwork and a hesitancy to change.

A lack of literacy and numeracy skills also reduces individuals' employability, career advancement, and income prospects.

It's surprising just how high the levels of literacy or numeracy need to be for a wide variety of jobs. For example, a trainee chef needs to be able to read a variety of signs ranging from hygiene notices to cleaning-chemical labels, recipe ingredients and instructions for using equipment.

They need to fill in health and safety record sheets, incident reports and accident reports. When it comes to numeracy tasks, a trainee chef needs to do everything from estimating angles for sharpening knives to making accurate quantity measurements and working out prices on a menu.

Work on a production line might be repetitive and not considered to need high literacy levels, but within the job are hidden literacy demands such as:

* Following production schedules.

* Comprehending a health and safety manual.

* Estimating quantity and weight.

* Reading and recording product codes.

* Finding a solution if a problem occurs.

Employees' lack of literacy skills often shows up as they rise through the ranks, says Percy. "We often work with supervisors who have been promoted because they are good at their job but are now having to write incident reports, for example, that push their writing skills."

Some employers may think an employee's literacy or numeracy skills are none of their business. It's up to the employee to sort out his or her own skills. Yet upskilling in workplaces has tangible benefits for the businesses.

One of the big problems educators such as Workbase face is getting people to identify their weaknesses. Many people may not be aware they have a problem - because they automatically shy away from documents with unfamiliar words in them.

A person with low literacy levels may not attempt to read a company's standard operating manual. "They think, 'Nobody reads that crap,' they don't think, 'I have a literacy issue,"' says Percy.

Percy worked with one company where staff responsible for frozen goods turned out to be unable to understand and read temperatures below zero before they received workplace literacy and numeracy training.

Just how adult literacy classes fit into the workplace can be seen clearly at Pumpkin Patch, where spot checking of the warehouse after the annual stocktake found that the percentage of wrong counts was higher than the company would have liked.

It wasn't that the staff members weren't diligent. An investigation found that in some cases the staff had forgotten since leaving school how to add and subtract.

Pumpkin Patch contracted Workbase to provide a communication and numeracy programme for warehouse staff.

"Picking accuracy and hence order fulfilment has improved dramatically and we can tell by the reduction in 'trouble-shooting' that fewer mistakes are being made across the board," says Mark Hall, warehouse supervisor at Pumpkin Patch.

Indirectly the programme helped with staff engagement and retention. And employees have benefited through being able to apply for promotions that they would otherwise not have had the skill set for.

Few adults want to go back to school. The answer, says Percy, is to make the teaching relevant to and embedded in their work.

After training staff may be better at participating in team meetings and lose their reluctance to speak up when they don't understand something.

Organisations with a large multicultural workforce sometimes have a need for literacy and numeracy training. Some staff may simply need their report writing or verbal communication skills improved. Others may have come from war-torn or underdeveloped countries and missed out on the basics of an education.

The University of Auckland's Centre for Continuing Education is often approached by organisations with a multicultural workforce asking for courses to support staff to improve their professional business communications, says Anne Cave, programme manager professional development.

The centre offers English at Work courses for non-native English speakers, another group that can lack numeracy and literacy skills, but be highly motivated.

Course facilitator Rosemary Hepozden says non-native speakers can find verbal and written communication at work challenging, and may be judged on mistakes they make. Many also wanted to fit in better.

Hepozden cites the example of HSBC, which had a considerable number of non-English speakers and understood their communications reflected on the company's corporate image.

Among other things, Hepozden worked with the staff members to improve their written communication and understanding that often the only thing colleagues and clients will see is your written communication. If there are mistakes "it can make the recipient very nervous about the quality of the information they are receiving."

New Zealand just cannot afford to wait any longer for improved workforce literacy says Phil O'Reilly, chief executive of Business New Zealand.

It's one of the key skill shortages facing the New Zealand economy.