OLRC Publications: Workplace Education: Employer Needs for Basic Skills Programming

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Workplace Education: Employer Needs for Basic Skills Programming

Source: OLRC Research Team

Purpose: To determine the extent of concern about workplace literacy among employers in a three-county region; to determine the level of involvement organizations (profit and non- profit) have with public educational institutions regarding basic skills (literacy) education.

Participants: Members of the Akron Regional Development Board (ARDB), which represents profit and non-profit organizations in a three-county area surrounding greater Akron and Canton in Northeast Ohio. ARDB members include manufacturing, service and professional organizations of all sizes.

Methods: There were two components of this study. First, a seven-item survey instrument, developed by the OLRC Research Team, was mailed to 750 ARDB members. Mail responses were analyzed, and areas for exploration were identified. The second component consisted of on-site interviews with 28 ARDB members representing small, medium, and large service and manufacturing organizations.

Survey Results: A total of 144 responses from the surveys were received, an 18% return. The results indicated that:

50% of the respondents were manufacturing organizations.
33% were service organizations.
17% represented non-profit organizations.

Sizes of these organizations varied:

small - less than 50 employees (50%)
medium - 50 to 99 employees (16%)
large - 100 to 250 employees (19%)

Of the 144 total respondents:

25% were providing literacy education with courses in reading, writing, math and numeracy.
7% reported that they had "extensive involvement" with public education.
86% reported that they would contact a public education institution for assistance if they needed it.
82% stated that less than 10% of their workforce needed basic skills education.

The greatest need for basic skills education was indicated in the medium-sized companies (50-99 employees), yet this group reported having the least amount of training available.

On-Site Interview
Results: Twenty-eight organizations were interviewed by the OLRC Research Team. The results indicated that:

fewer than 10% acknowledged a need for basic skills education.
only 3 of the 28 were involved with a literacy education program.
employers' most common methods for identifying employees with literacy difficulties were observation and verbal reports from supervisors, peers or self.

The majority of those interviewed:

strongly supported the need to involve public education in basic literacy education.
viewed low literacy skills as a problem of the future, not as a current concern.
did not believe that their employees were in need of basic skills education; they used the high school diploma and initial screening devices to ensure that their employees would have high enough literacy levels to perform their jobs.

Medium-sized companies tended to have the greatest need for basic literacy education; they also stated that they lacked the resources to: a) invest in this type of education, and b) replace employees while they were in classes.

Conclusions: Employers in the Akron/Canton area do not recognize a need for basic skills education within their organizations. Further study needs to be conducted to determine why this is so.

Employers see low literacy levels as an isolated problem occurring mainly in low-skill occupations.

Math and communication skills are most frequently taught by those employers involved with basic skills education.

The term literacy needs to be defined in more specific terms; similarly, a distinction needs to be made between basic literacy education (workplace literacy) and workforce training.

With a rather large pool of unemployed workers from which to select, employers in the Akron/Canton area are able to closely screen potential employees and draw from the top. Thus, literacy education is not a recognized need (nor is it an economic need) because the workers are able to perform the tasks for which they have been hired.

Condensed by: Sarah Nixon-Ponder

For more information about this study, please contact Pat O'Connor or Nancy Padak. Both can be reached by calling the OLRC.

This page http://literacy.kent.edu/Oasis/Pubs/0600-5.htm
and is maintained by the OLRC .

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