Issue #1: Compliance

Compliance is not only about doing the right thing, but also doing it for the right reasons. Many companies actually budget for and pay their skills levies, and they’re happy to give that money away and not get anything in return. If a company wants to be proud of their Workplace Skills Plan or their Employment Equity Report, they need to put thought into them and do them right because, if your Workplace Skills Plan reflects what you want to achieve, it will reflect that the company is doing the right thing for its employees.

Doing the right thing is important. For example, if you’re standing next to a swimming pool while somebody is drowning, you wouldn’t stand by idly or choose to video the drowning person on your cell phone. You would jump in to help them because that would be the right thing to do.

And the same applies to doing nothing to help employees with a lack of education in the workplace. Knowing that things are not okay and pointing fingers at the relevant authorities won’t solve the problem or make things better. You need to take the necessary steps to be compliant.

Issue #2: Competence

While compliance is important, it’s also necessary to have a competent workforce – a pool of people that you can promote from within, so that you don’t have to employ from outside. In the case of someone who has been working for the company for 20 years, they know their job well, but they might not necessarily be able to read the dials and readings on the machines on which they work because they’re illiterate.

So, on the ground, it’s the blue collar workers who need the training more than others. But, because it takes a bit longer for them to get upskilled, management tends to put them on short courses because they’re easier to arrange and they don’t affect production so much. It’s however those workers in the warehouse and in the factory who can’t calculate measurements and perform certain tasks who need an investment of time and training to ensure they are competent.

Many management teams think they have a competent workforce. When you ask them about their workers, they say that they only employ people who have a school leaving certificate. But that doesn’t imply competence. Some people may be verbally competent but still can’t read emails or are numerically illiterate. That’s a problem because it’s sometimes difficult to arrange training for them, and so companies will say that they’re “not targeting that this year,” as it’s too much work for them.

This impacts the bottom line in that it could result in wastage. In the case of a more educated worker who is better equipped, however, there will be less wastage.

Issue #3: Communication

Better communication between workers translates into better collaboration, co-operation and enhanced productivity. But workers need to be comfortable expressing themselves with appropriate language skills in order to achieve this. That makes a very strong case for language skills training.

While literacy training improves workers’ social life and their quality of life, the company also benefits because a more competent, more literate workforce makes the team a better team and creates a positive environment. When workers are educated, they understand why things need to happen on time, why percentages of things needs to be measured and so forth.