Manufacturing News

The importance of addressing literacy

In many ways literacy and numeracy shortfalls are deeply hidden workplace problems – the sufferers are often highly adept at keeping their problem a secret. This situation was highlighted in a report released in May from Ai Group’s National Workforce Literacy Project, which aims to identify practical solutions for industry to address this problem.

Worryingly, the first stage of the Project includes a survey in which 75% of employers reported that their businesses were affected by low levels of literacy and numeracy. Low levels of literacy and numeracy were an issue for 45% of labourers and process workers, 25% of apprentices, 23% of technicians, 17% of administrative staff and 13% of IT staff.

This reinforces ABS data which has found that four million people in the Australian workforce do not have the literacy and numeracy skills needed to meet the demands of the workplace. This equates to just under 50% of all workers.

This doesn’t mean that four million people can’t read, write or undertake very basic mathematical calculations. But it does mean that almost half of the workforce can’t confidently use or understand typical workplace documents such as standard operating procedures, job applications, payroll forms, transport schedules, maps, tables and charts. They can’t fully work with mathematical concepts and they really wrestle with thinking out solutions to problems where there is no standard answer.

The implications of this for business are enormous: safety risks are increased when signs and safety information can’t be read; productivity is reduced and waste is increased when standard operating procedures and other work instructions can’t be fully understood; and work and life outcomes are reduced for workers whose progression is hampered by limited literacy and numeracy skills.

In addition, poor spelling and grammar results in written reports that are either incorrect or incomprehensible. This has a negative impact on the business; time is wasted, many employees are frustrated and the work is not being undertaken in accordance with company procedures.

Improvements in this area matter now more than ever, because the jobs where a worker could get by with limited literacy and numeracy are fast disappearing. People who struggle to read, write and work with numbers will face considerable difficulties in up-skilling and re-skilling – especially in our globally connected economy where we are under constant pressure to keep building the skills base.

The recent Federal Budget included funding for a four-year National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy, which will help to improve the skills of an additional 140,000 people. This program will make a substantial difference. However, in many ways, it should be seen as just the start.

The next phase of Ai Group’s project involves working with a number of companies to select apprentices, tradespersons and supervisors to undertake customised literacy and numeracy training held at the workplace using materials that are directly relevant to the business and familiar to employees.

This type of partnership between companies and individuals is already demonstrating real progress at a company level. The hope is that this approach will develop fresh strategies that can be rolled out across enterprises.

These strategies will complement and enhance existing practices and will help make a real difference both for our economic performance and for the wellbeing f the individuals concerned.

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