Benefits
Employers
Employers gain higher profits and a host of
other bottom-line benefits from improving employees’ literacy and basic
skills. More skillful employees save employers time and money, and
improve performance and productivity.
Other benefits include:
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reduced error rates
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a better health and safety record
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reduced waste in production of goods and services
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increased customer and employee retention.
These benefits translate into financial savings,
productivity gains and higher profits. On top of all that, employees with better
basic skills tend to learn more and faster when they take job-specific and
technical training.
Employers who support literacy and basic skills
development enjoy a more conscientious, resourceful, loyal and dependable
workforce as a result. When employees learn that high-quality work is crucial to
the success of the organization and to their own job security, they often become
more conscientious. Once they become fully aware of what is expected of them and
how their efforts fit into the big picture, and then gain the skills to meet
those demands, the quality of their work generally rises.
Employers often gain because more skillful employees are
more confident employees. Confidence translates into creativity and initiative
that, in turn, contributes to the overall performance of the organization.
Learn more about the benefits to employers of
upgrading the literacy and basic skills of the workforce by visiting a free site
with advice and information on basic skills development:
www.workplacebasicskills.com/non_frame/wep/employer_benefits.htm
Employees
As an employee or job seeker, you can gain a
variety of benefits from upgrading your skills. Skills improvements for
employees often change their ability to perform their jobs well. With enhanced
skills comes a greater capacity to adapt to change, to learn at work and to
respond to competitive challenges. As a result, employees gain rewards and
recognition from their employers in the form of better pay, promotion, job
security and career opportunities.
Benefits to employees of improving their workplace
basic skills include:
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Improved morale/self-esteem
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Ability to work better with coworkers or in teams
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Improved reading, writing, numeric, communication and
problem-solving skills
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Greater chance of being promoted or transferred into new
positions
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Increased pay or responsibility
Learn more about the benefits to employees of
upgrading their workplace literacy and basic skills by visiting a free site with
advice and information on basic skills development:
www.workplacebasicskills.com/non_frame/wep/employee_benefits.htm
Unions
Unions recognize that the skills their members need today
are greater than in the past.
Unions are channeling resources and energy into helping
their members cope with change in the workplace. Their awareness of the need to
be a part of managing workplace change has prompted unions to financially
support and actively encourage literacy and basic skills development in the
workplace.
As job requirements increase, employees need better basic
reading, writing and numeracy skills, as well the ability to communicate
effectively and to solve problems on their own. The introduction of new and
advanced technologies to the workplace directly affects the work performed by
labor and increases the skill sets needed to use and operate the new machinery.
Unions can assist their members to change in order to meet
the needs and interests of the membership. By supporting literacy and basic
skills development in the workplace, unions focus on increasing the value of
employees to the firm. In this way, they safeguard their members' jobs and
improve their employment opportunities.
By supporting literacy and basic skills development in the
workplace, unions also gain benefits as organizations:
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Members are more likely to feel loyalty and to stay in the
union because they appreciate the value they gain from union leadership and
support for skills training.
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Members with improved skills often take a more active part
in union committees and program development.
Learn more about the benefits to unions of
upgrading members’ workplace literacy and basic skills by visiting a free site
with advice and information on basic skills development:
www.workplacebasicskills.com/non_frame/wep/benefits_to_union.htm
