Engaging Employers in the Skills for Life agenda

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Engaging Employers in the Skills for Life
agenda

• Nigel Purkis, Employability Director
• Tracey Theo, Regional Manager - Skills for Life

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Aims of the session

• Understand the importance of Skills for Life to
  business
• Understand the relevance of Skills for Life to
  each of the Equal themes
• Consider how business can support your
  Development Partnerships
• Consider ways to engage business

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Business in the Community?

• A unique movement of 700 member companies (over
  80 of the FTSE100)
• The largest UK national organisation of its kind
  with a presence in every region
• Business led
• An independent charity

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Membership commitment

• Integrate, measure and communicate the companys
  impact on society
• Community
• Environment
• Marketplace
• Workplace
• Work collaboratively and focus on the most
  disadvantaged communities
• Inspire, lead and share

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Involvement with Skills for Life

• Mobilise the private sector through membership
  and networks
• Support business in getting involved
• Identify barriers to action
• Develop the business case
• Create an employer champions network

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Engaging Employers in the Skills for Life
agendaWhat is it all about?

• Tracey Theo, Regional Manager - Skills for Life

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Skills for Life - what is it?

• Skills for Life are the ability to read, write
  and speak English and use maths at a level
  necessary to function and progress at work and in
  society in general
• Other phrases used -
• Essential Skills
• Valuable Skills
• Forgotten Skills
• Basic Skills

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The Challenge

• 7 million people with poor basic skills, 3.5
  million in the workplace (Improving Literacy
  Numeracy a Fresh Start - Moser Report)
• Cost to UK business of 4.8billion per year
• Cost to UK taxpayer of 10 billion per year
• Poor skill levels compared to other European
  countries - 28 of the UKs workforce has
  intermediate skills, compared with 51 in France
  and 65 in Germany

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The Facts - Individual

• The impact on the individual
• As many as one in five adults of working age
  cannot look up a plumber in the Yellow Pages and
  one in ten cannot understand the instructions on
  a medicine bottle
• An individual with good literacy and numeracy
  could earn 50,000 more over a working life than
  someone with poor skills
• Half of jobs are closed to those with poor skills
• Unemployed people are twice as likely as employed
  people to have poor literacy skills
• 40 of adults in receipt of social security
  benefits have poor literacy skills

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Government

• National Strategy 21st Century Skills, Skills
  for Life (Dept for Education and Skills
  2001)
• Targets
• 750,000 adults will improve their literacy and
  numeracy skills by 2004
• 1.5million adults by 2007
• Funding
• 1.5 billion dedicated to radical improvements
  for engaging learners

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Engaging Employers in the Skills for Life
agendaWhat does it mean to business?

• Tracey Theo, Regional Manager - Skills for Life

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What does it mean to business?

• Organisations will recognise that they have
  problems with
• Health and Safety regulations
• Quality systems
• New technology
• Modern communications systems
• Information and production systems
• Changes in work processes
• Customer service
• Absenteeism

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Improving skill levels can result in

• Better customer relations and fewer complaints,
  through improved communication skills
• Better quality assurance through quality
  procedures being understood and followed
• Fewer accidents due to better understanding of
  health and safety notices hazards are easily
  identified and understood
• Increased productivity and cost efficiency,
  through lower absenteeism, less wastage of
  materials and forms accurately completed

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Benefits

• Business Benefits Individual Benefits
• Increased productivity Self confidence
• Increased quality of work Boost morale
• Reduced error rates Promotion opportunities
• Health Safety improves Problem solving
  skills
• Increased customer retention Use technology
• Increased employee retention Team working
• Reduced absenteeism Communication skills

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The BP Case Study

• Developing People
• Embed training for all forecourt staff
• 2500 people per year
• 1000 receive an NVQ each year
• Outcomes since 1999
• 42 reduction in attrition
• Shop sales growth
• HS days from work down to 0
• Change in employees perspective of organisation
• National Training Award

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Engaging Employers in the Skills for Life
agendaWhat is the relevance for Development
Partnerships?

• Nigel Purkis, Employability Director

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Equal themes

• Helping people who have difficulty being
  integrated or re-integrated into a labour market
  that must be open to all
• Combating racism and discrimination in relation
  to the world of work
• Opening up business creation to all by providing
  the tools to set up in business .... new ways of
  creating employment in urban and rural areas
• Strengthening the social economy (third sector),
  in particular the services which help the
  community, with a focus on improving the quality
  of jobs
• Promoting lifelong learning and inclusive work
  practices which encourage recruiting and
  retaining people suffering discrimination and
  inequality
• Helping firms and employees to adapt to
  structural change and the use of IT and other new
  technologies
• Reducing gender gaps and supporting job
  desegregation
• Helping asylum seekers to integrate

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Engaging Employers in the Skills for Life
agendaWhat to do next?

• Tracey Theo, Regional Manager - Skills for Life

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Next steps for an employer

• Commit to action, talk to others within sector
• Agree strategy and develop a plan linked to the
  plan for the business, with FREE help from, for
  example - BITC, LSC
• Consider integration in to current needs such as
  recruitment, induction, supervisory/management
  training, health and safety, NVQs, quality
  procedures, customer service, food hygiene, IT
  etc.
• Involve people communicate to the senior team,
  managers, supervisors, staff, unions, staff
  groups to gain commitment and understanding
• Agree policies including time off for staff ,
  company facilities
• Deliver to workforce
• Evaluate impact
• Share good practice with case studies
• Encourage suppliers to recognise the issue
• Become a champion

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What help is available?

• Business in the Community www.bitc.org.uk, KPMG
• Learning and Skills Councils - www.lsc.gov.uk
  Business Links, Chambers of Commerce, IoD,
  Federation of Small Businesses, CBI
• Trade Union Congress (TUC) Union Learning Reps
• Learndirect www.learndirect.co.uk, Tel 0800
  100 900
• Sector Skills Councils - www.ssda.org.uk
• Colleges Association of Colleges (AOC)
• Private Providers Association of Learning
  Providers (ALP)
• Get On www.get-on.org.uk

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What resources are available?

• Basic Skills Agency www.basic-skills.co.uk
• Job Centre Plus
• Move On www.move-on.org.uk, Tel [phone]
• Adult and Community Centres
• BBC www.bbc.co.uk/webwise

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THANK YOU www.bitc.org.uk/skillsforlife