Skills Highway Award 2009

Skills Highway Award 2009 winner: Downer

The Skills Highway Award was introduced in 2009 with the support of the Department of Labour and celebrates workplaces that successfully tackle literacy and numeracy skills development.

The inaugural winner of the Skills Highway Award was engineering and infrastructure company Downer.

The company has 3,300 employees across the country. After achieving good results from a 2007 literacy project for foremen and team leaders, Downer developed a programme for frontline workers.

The result was Way2Work, a four-day programme developed under the Government's upskilling strategy. It started in June last year and will have covered nearly 1,000 employees in 39 locations from Kaitaia to Invercargill by the end of this year.

More than 70% of those doing Way2Work have no school qualifications, but they earn five safety-related unit standards and can add credits to earn a national certificate in civil infrastructure.

The benefits, says Downer General Manager of HR, Chris Meade, include lower staff turnover and less absenteeism. Workplace safety has improved, with a steady decline in incidents as Way2Work was introduced alongside a dedicated safety training programme.

One employee says, "I have learned to stand back and look at a job before going full tilt into it." Another writes: "I'm trying some of the things I've learnt with my kids. I try to get them to point out some dangerous things around our house and on the roads when we go for walks."

Chris Meade says that although Way2Work costs $1,800 per learner, it's more than just good business sense. "Empowering a workforce of men and women to get the most from life is a great achievement in any terms," she says. "The human side matters."

Skills Highway Award 2009 highly commended: Longveld Engineering

Due to local skills shortages, migrants make up one-third of the 60-strong workforce at Hamilton stainless steel fabricator Longveld Engineering. Just two of the migrants speak English as their first language.

The company goes to a great deal of effort to help new migrants settle, but last year realised that some employees' lack of fluency in English was hampering performance.

The remedy was a tailored programme that offers the 10 employees who needed help one and a half hours of on-site numeracy and literacy training each week. Activities include filling in workplace forms, matching safety signs with words, and simple numeracy skills.

"Some of the trainees have gobbled up the course material unexpectedly quickly in their desire to learn," says Pam Roa, Business Services Manager and Director. Components of a national certificate in occupational safety and health have since been included, so employees can earn a qualification as they learn.

Supervisor Tony Northcott says, "The employees in my team who are involved in the literacy and numeracy programme have improved out of sight. Their enthusiasm for their work has lifted dramatically and they continue to improve communication skills with the rest of the team."

Video of winner

Watch the video of the 2009 winner.