Benefits of Essential Skills

Employers invest in training when there will be a measurable benefit to the business. As such, Essential Skills training has been used to improve an employee's ability to perform in the workplace. The kinds of outcomes employers who invest in Essential Skills training measure and manage include the following:

• skill gains (Essential Skills, or firm-specific, job-specific or technical skills);
• attitude change - for example, increased commitment to achieving individual, team and organizational goals;
• increased engagement in the workplace; and
• knowledge acquisition and application—for example, enhanced employee understanding of the workplace.

Some impacts that employers have measured are improved safety, increased productivity, increased retention, reduced absenteeism and reduced error rates. Once Essential Skills gaps have been identified and Essential Skills training has been developed and implemented, businesses often notice soft returns in addition to hard business results. The combination of improved Essential Skills and other softer benefits (including increased participation, improved morale, enhanced employee engagement and improved team performance) not only equips organizations to address future challenges, but also raises employers' awareness of how to identify and address Essential Skills challenges.

Investing in Essential Skills training produces a whole range of soft returns in the workplace. Soft returns accrue to individual employees and their managers, to teams, to organizations as a whole, and to the wider community in which individuals and organizations operate (including families). Employees become more engaged, more adaptable, and better able to learn and to succeed in other training.

The results of the Conference Board of Canada's 2005 Learning and Development annual survey of Canadian organizations indicated that high-learning organizations enjoyed stronger business performance. High-learning organizations scored higher on all indicators of organizational success (including retention of talent, employee satisfaction, quality of products and services, productivity, and profitability) than their medium and low learning counterparts.

Despite the costs, training and development programs are an intangible form of investment for companies. They bring valuable benefits to the business and to the employee. Many companies are investing in the development of employee essential skills. The following examples provide a picture of relevant activities in the area of essential skills development programs.

Case studies by the Conference Board of Canada showcase various companies that have worked with Essential Skills to assist in worker development. The studies showcased companies that wanted to meet their goals through a stable, flexible workforce with improved skills. The companies' workplace education programs have resulted in a number of positive outcomes including:

Individuals

Believe they are more capable
Take more pride in their work
Accept and act on suggestions for personal improvement more readily
Have improved self-confidence
Develop a lifelong learning attitude

Teams

Improve communication and cooperation
Respect diversity
Better identify and leverage contributions of individual team members

Organizations

Employees …
show more initiative and become more innovative
work and make decisions more independently
become better at recognizing and solving problems
take on new roles as mentors and peer learning coaches

Family and community

Employees …
are better able to help children with homework
participate more in voluntary activities
enjoy improved health

Case Studies:

National Silicates' Chemical found that employees who have the Essential Skills necessary to be effective in the workplace are an organization's best asset and can draw on their skills and abilities to achieve aggressive performance targets. Significant outcomes and impacts of the company's Essential Skills training program include a zero voluntary turnover rate, reduced overtime hours, reduced outside contractor hours, reduced plant down time, more versatile employees, improved efficiency, improved productivity, improved safety and an improved work environment.

The Minas Basin Pulp & Power provided Essential Skills upgrading opportunities that enabled workers to learn new skills more quickly, to teach others more effectively and to contribute more deliberately to the business success of the organization. Minas Basin Pulp & Power has carefully tracked the outcomes and impacts of its Workplace Education program. The company has reported unprecedented operating efficiencies, an all-time low absenteeism rate, and a 13-fold reduction in lost time due to accidents, which justify the company's investments in Essential Skills development for its work force.

Durabelt tracked many impacts and benefits of Essential Skills training. Many related to positive changes in attitudes and behaviours that support performance in the workplace, success in the classroom and positive relationships at home. For Durabelt, enhanced employee self- confidence helps to ensure better working relationships and stronger productivity.