HR Professionals can play a powerful role in building a thriving, more equal country.

Seasoned HR Professionals all understand that South Africa’s education system is failing to supply employable school leavers to the business community. The current schooling system is letting its learners down, with the percentage of qualified and skilled individuals matriculating yearly being very poor.

It would, however, appear that there is a reluctance on the part of business leaders to address the challenges that workers entering the workplace experience and that the company, in turn, experiences.

Most of these employees have problems with basic literacy and numeracy skills, which means they lack the proficiencies required to read English, the language of business, and to perform basic arithmetic or mathematical calculations. They therefore can’t read training or instruction manuals, which would enable them to learn effectively or teach themselves how to perform their work tasks.

What makes the situation even more frustrating for all concerned is that, without being able to read and write, what potential these workers have can never be developed so they are doomed to remain at the lowest levels in the company without any hope of advancement or growth.

Fundamentals and foundations

Experience has shown that, in 27 years, the South African Government has not demonstrated any intent or capacity to address problems at primary and secondary school level. This means that, as things stand, if the business community wants to employ workers who can be grown and developed, the responsibility to fix the problem falls squarely on the collective and individual shoulders of business leaders who care.

In fact, a failure to recognise this responsibility is like constructing a magnificent building without first laying a structurally sound foundation. While the building may look impressive from a cosmetic point of view, sooner or later, it could all come tumbling down, with the resultant destruction of people’s lives and livelihoods.    

Before effective training can be provided, a sound foundation should be laid where employees are equipped with the fundamentals to be developed by attending any training programme offered by the company or other provider.

These fundamentals usually include the basic literacy and numeracy skills needed by a person or employee to perform their respective tasks, such as reading, writing, mathematical calculations and problem solving. These skills are vital for any employee and may be used for listening and learning, for oral communication between them and their peers or superiors, for teamwork, leadership and self-motivation.

So, the sooner that we realise that a school leaving certificate means nothing, the better, if the fundamentals are not in place.

Adult education and training strategy

There is therefore an increasingly urgent need for business leaders to embrace and implement an Adult Education and Training (AET) strategy for the good of their companies, the good of the communities in which their businesses operate and indeed for the good of the country.

In a country that has been rated the most unequal country in the world, a structured and formal AET programme remains one of the most powerful tools that can be used to fight rising inequality in South Africa by providing low skilled employees with an opportunity to complete their education and gain important basic skills that will help them to develop and improve their livelihoods. In addition, workplace training for low skilled employees and community training for unemployed candidates help bring about important socio-economic change, thus helping to reduce levels of inequality. In these ways, AET plays a critical role as a driver of transformation.

What’s also encouraging is that many low skilled employees who have completed AET literacy and numeracy training, also study further, increasing their value to their employers.

Avoid the traps

There are a few traps that business leaders need to avoid. One is that the problem is so big that the temptation is to simply avoid or ignore it in the futile hope that it will possibly go away. It won’t. It will simply become bigger, worse and more expensive in terms of time, resources and overall costs to a company.

Another common objection leaders have to releasing workers for AET is that the company will lose productivity. This is an incorrect perspective as workers who are literate and trained, enhance productivity and profitability rather than cause productivity to drop. They will also more likely develop a loyalty to the company which they previously did not have. This reduces the chances of their leaving, thus causing the company to avoid the cost of replacing them and training new hires.   

In conclusion

Service delivery capacity at all levels of society is linked to basic competence which is dependent on, among other things, workers having the capacity to learn skills that can help them contribute value. It is time that our business community sees fundamentals as a priority in South Africa.

Marinda Clack is an Expert Training & Development Advisor at Triple E Training.