KEY POINTS:
For years, employers' lobbies have been harping on about the link between workplace skills, productivity and sustained economic growth.
In July, a joint campaign to improve workforce literacy was launched by Business New Zealand, the Council of Trade Unions, the Industry Training Federation and Workbase. It received scant
attention and was even dismissed privately by some employers as another do-good attempt to correct long-term failings in the education system.
But the Business New Zealand Election Survey shows the campaign is firmly in step with the feelings of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The survey of 2172 SMEs placed skills and productivity as the most important driver to achieving sustained economic growth.
Of the seven pillars in the survey, skills and productivity was rated first by 24 per cent of respondents, followed by investment, innovation and entrepreneurship (20.3 per cent) and business environment (20.1 per cent). The government environment was considered the most important by 12.5 per cent of respondents only and infrastructure and trade attracted 8 per cent support each with sustainability at the bottom with just 7.1 per cent support.
The view of the workplace literacy campaign is that low workforce literacy limits the ability of New Zealanders to increase productivity, innovate and meet changing customer and market demands.
Business New Zealand chief executive Phil O'Reilly is adamant that without good levels of literacy and numeracy in the workforce; New Zealand would struggle to achieve a high standard of living.
"Poor literacy levels also make it difficult for individuals to provide for their families, or to find and keep satisfying work. The case for action is clear and unequivocal," he says.
This view is echoed by the CTU and others involved in on-the-job training. Many companies also actively encourage staff to attend courses to improve literacy and numeracy.
Ashburton-based Canterbury Meat Packers is a good example. Its literacy programme grew out of a desire of one employee to improve his skills and today the plant makes a rudimentary literacy test part of its screening programme for new employees. If an applicant struggles with literacy, help is offered.
As part of its employee assistance programme, Canterbury Meat Packers pays for staff to improve their reading skills and has about 30 employees working with tutors at the Ashburton Learning Centre.
Attendance is not compulsory but the knock-on effects of better literacy include improved job prospects for the employee and better workplace safety (as employees need to be able to read safety notices).
The Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA) Northern chief executive, Alasdair Thompson, says feedback from members over several years has shown that the most critical problem facing business was a shortage of workers.
"They want anybody who is employable, provided they can read and write and do sums," he says. "There is a skills shortage across the board in all the skilled areas. There has been a clear signal from employers that this is the number one issue."
Business New Zealand chief executive Phil O'Reilly said SMEs considered a stable workforce more important than other factors affecting business because it was something they could control.
"If they could have influence overall [in the economy] they would see that as important as well."
He says while some companies appreciate the importance of having a literate and numerate workforce, others do not accept it as their problem.
"Many businesspeople have a traditional view, right or not, of not having much trust in teachers and the education system. That happens in every meeting that I go to."
O'Reilly says workplace literacy and numeracy bring important economic benefits to business and companies need to realise it is in their interests to encourage it and that it is the role of an organisation like Business New Zealand to promote this education.
However, Business Roundtable executive director Roger Kerr says that workplace productivity alone, based on a better-educated workforce, is not a panacea for sustained economic growth.
He says the government environment is a key factor in long-term economic growth and government behaviour impacts heavily on companies' ability to prosper and the ability of workers to lift productivity.
"Take the position of a Mexican immigrant going to the United States. The person becomes several times more productive [than in his or her home country] because of big-ticket issues like government spending, tax, regulation and infrastructure," Kerr says.
* Graeme Hunt is an Auckland business writer.
SILVER LINING IN FINANCIAL TURMOIL
The international financial turmoil may hold a short-term silver lining if skilled expat Kiwis decide to come home.
EMA Northern boss Alasdair Thompson believes the return of expats to New Zealand will fill some skills gaps. But he warns skill shortages would remain in the long term. "We will not have a skill shortage soon, but that position will only last for a while. We should be planning ahead as most times we operate in near or full capacity."
Thompson suggests immigration policy should be driven by employer demand. "What employers need employers should get. That should be the key driver of our immigration policy."
NZ Institute chief executive David Skilling and NZX chief executive Mark Weldon suggest the government should offer skilled Kiwis, who have been overseas for at least three years, a 20 per cent top personal tax rate for two years to attract them home.
Neither Labour nor National have grasped the proposal but it has created a talking point.
Auckland Regional Chamber of Commerce chief executive Michael Barnett says the inquiry rate for jobs on the www.nzrecruitme.co.nz website has increased to 40-50 a day since the financial crisis began.
He says there have increasing numbers of professional and trade qualified people in the European Union have been looking to New Zealand as a "safe haven to emigrate to".