How business is affected

Clearly, it's difficult for employees to be fully engaged and productive in their work if they struggle with core reading, maths and communication skills.

The hidden problem

How widespread is this issue in your workplace? Far more so than you probably realise. It can be a difficult problem to identify.

Reading, maths and communication are so ingrained in work tasks that gaps in these skills are not immediately obvious. While employees seem to be getting on with the job, the gap in their skills can easily be missed.

The skills gap can be missed because affected employees are coping with familiar tasks. When they struggle with new tasks or are unable to take on more responsibility, it's often put down to unwillingness or dislike of change rather than limited skills.

Skills gaps also drive employees to find ways to get by. So much so that their managers may not even realise there is a problem.

For example, an employee who reads the sports pages in the newspaper may not be able to understand a performance graph. Or follow a procedure manual.

People may also have skills in some areas but gaps in others. For example, some employees may have great verbal skills and be able to communicate well orally but be less strong in reading and writing. Or they may be fine with most paperwork except where it involves numbers. Others have OK base skills but they aren't enough for specific tasks such as writing reports or using some computer applications.

With help though, those core skills can be developed or improved, delivering benefits for both your employees and your business.

Why employees face these challenges

Employees who have gaps or difficulties with core skills don’t lack intelligence or ability - circumstances usually play a key role.

They may:

• have left school early
• have known the skills once but not kept them up
• speak English as a second language
• lack confidence to seek help
• find it hard to transfer skills from school or other training to the workplace
• have fallen behind advances in technology.

They may also face other barriers inside your organisation such as dealing with processes and forms that are overly complicated. Or needing to follow signs and information that don't use plain English. This all contributes to their difficulties.

Responding to the issue

Employer and industry organisations, unions and the Government, all recognise that this is a widespread issue. And they’re working together to improve these core skills in the New Zealand workforce.

Business New Zealand, the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (CTU), the Industry Training Federation (ITF), which represents all of New Zealand's Industry Training Organisations (ITOs), and Workbase, have developed a blueprint for these initiatives. You can take advantage of this support and improve these skills in your own workplace.

It will make a difference to your business. How? By addressing challenges in your business - like health and safety and wastage and rework.

Preview the whole process

See a summary of what's needed to improve core skills for your employees and your business.