Literacy: The Missing Link for Productivity

At times, companies invest in the latest manufacturing technology and take pride on the training offered by them to their management team, still their productivity remains sluggish. Workforce literacy is the missing link in such cases. The productivity will not be improved by the best technology and management skills, unless the literacy matter is addressed where it matters the most.

Low levels of workplace literacy and numeracy are the major, under recognized problem at places where everyone in the workforce can read and write. Workplace literacy can be explained as the ability to participate effectively in workplace practices and having the ability to communicate, critically analyse and do maths at a level relevant to persistently changing demands at work.

The gap between the level of literacy skills essential for output and performance improvement and the actual skills of many in the workplace is far larger than Government or business action to date would suggest. Over 40% of our workforce has levels of literacy and numeracy that in many cases are insufficient to allow them to do their job properly or to keep up with changing workplace tasks. Improbable as the 40% figure may seem it comes from in- depth surveys of adult literacy, language and numeracy skills conducted in New Zealand and 11 other OECD countries.

Complex quality, accountability processes and rising technology has become common place leading to increased workplace demands. The literacy demands of jobs have increased because of the productivity and competitive manufacturing practices. Now higher level of numeracy and literacy skills are required.

Employees in a position to contribute ideas to advance processes and to see at first hand when systems are failing often do not have the precise technical vocabulary and confidence to be able to communicate and make themselves understood.

So they prefer not to try. Our ability to increase productivity, innovate and meet changing customer and market demands is inhibited by New Zealand’s workforce. We are not able to compete and succeed in the global economy.

Highly skilled workforce and productivity improvements are crucial for New Zealand’s business and this is accepted by everyone. There is a lot more which is needed to be done.

We need to evidently identify the literary skills needed in different work roles and industries. Often the literary and numeracy skills needed are not recognized as crucial work skills and the gap between the job and the employee’s skills is never clarified. Importantly, the literacy training undertaken to address that gap needs to be job specific. Adults are best able to develop literacy skills in a meaningful authentic context. For the workforce, that context is the workplace or industry.


About The Author :

Workbase is New Zealand's most experienced service provider of adult literacy, numeracy and communication support. Find out more at www.workbase.org.nz

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