Productivity, not more quals, the answer

Victoria University invited me to a symposium on "Developing human capability in and for the workplace".

It was two weeks after the Budget and the insights presented reinforced my concerns about it – namely that the Government, like many others in the developed world, is still pouring money into lifting the number of people gaining qualifications, assuming this is still vital to boosting workplace productivity.

The symposium presented some of the growing evidence that this strategy is too crude and the payback increasingly poor. A significant proportion of people in the workforce now say they have qualifications that are not used in their workplace.

Ewart Keep, from the UK Centre for Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance, presented data from skills surveys for the 20-year period from 1986 to 2006. It showed an increasing trend of workers (from 29 per cent in 1986 to 40 per cent in 2006) who believed they were overqualified.

Two disturbing aspects of this over- focus on higher academic qualifications are the growing number of people who end up with debts to achieve their qualifications – but find an inadequate increase in their earning power to get a return on their investment – and our inability to make a real difference among the really low-skilled.

Before the Budget, employers and unions, education providers and industry training organisations, met government agencies in most big New Zealand cities. The goal was broad employer and employee support for the concept of a national skills strategy to help raise overall workplace productivity. Participants who really understood the realities of workplaces echoed my concerns. They supported the concept and value of the proposed skill strategy, but questioned whether the strategy really covered the fundamental links between skills and productivity.

For example, if you ask employers what knowledge, skills and attributes they most value in their workers, competencies we associate with a sound academic achievement and acquisition of knowledge form only part of the picture.

Often at the top of their list is a "can do" attitude, and evidence the person can be flexible and can adapt. The concept of workplace productivity, or the value that we contribute through our work, needs to move beyond viewing people as simply performing tasks – as important as these tasks may be.

Workplace processes and organisation, including job design and expectations of employees, all play important parts. Also, a large number of our employees, especially in Wellington, are part of the service sector of our economy where some of the most valued skills are self-management and inter- personal skills. These skills are of lifelong value, relative to knowledge that might quickly date or can be easily located in a hi-tech age.

And for those who emphasise that education is more than of economic or utilitarian value in work, these skills are just as valuable in our relationships in families and our communities. They are also one of the best strategies for empowering the less academically able.

By losing some of our obsession with academic qualifications we can turn our focus on those underlying attitudes to life and learning that are more valuable. We need to gain better insights into our own preferred learning style, ensuring that learning becomes less a chore and more a natural part of our daily life.

We also need to emphasise applying or putting our existing knowledge and skills into practice more regularly, so we reap the personal benefits as well as gaining productivity and added value paybacks.

The evidence also demonstrates that the benefits from acquiring knowledge and skills rise dramatically as we gain better insights into ourselves and our motivations.

This is why establishing this foundation for as many people as possible provides the greatest payback. Bad personal habits can impede us from successfully applying our knowledge and skills in our work and personal lives.

Work and skill acquisition make up only part of life, but approached constructively they can be an important part, generating good material rewards and a greater sense of satisfaction in the contribution we can make to our family and community.

Budget 2008 included some greater government funding for remedial numeracy and literacy courses for those already in the workplace, and will undoubtedly do some good. But I doubt whether it will generate productivity improvements without some better means to deal with underlying attitudes and motivations.

Like a lot in the Budget, the intentions are good but the inference one draws is that every problem needs to be tackled by the Government throwing money at it and calling it investment or development.

John Bishop has analysed the words used in the Budget, noting that the word "invest(ment)" appeared 31 times this year and that it was so much more politically acceptable than just spending money.

He also noted no use of the terms entrepreneur, innovation, profits and jobs in the document. Productivity, with just five mentions in 2007, was totally missing this year.

Productivity and the wise use of our skills and resources is the real key. You and I, and every enterprise in New Zealand, must deliver that – not just the Government.

* Paul Winter is chief executive of the Employers and Manufacturers Association (Central).

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