Improving Basic Skills In The Workplace

Describes workplace literacy programs in Maryland, Pennsylvania, W. Va., Va., Delaware, and District of Columbia.

Presents the findings of a three-year ASTD/U.S. Department of Labor nationwide study on how to develop a skilled workforce capable of meeting today's business requirements. Explains how to implement training programs that develop the new basic skills workers will need.

This joint OECD-ILO report provides a comparative analysis of case studies focusing on improving skills use in the workplace across eight countries. The examples provide insights into the practical ways in which employers interact with government services and policies at the local level. They highlight the need to build policy coherence across employment, skills, economic development and innovation policies, and underline the importance of ensuring that skills utilisation is built into policy development thinking and implementation. Skills utilisation concerns the extent to which skills are effectively applied in the workplace to maximise workplace and individual performance. It involves a mix of policies including work organisation, job design, technology adaptation, innovation, employee-employer relations, human resource development practices and business-product market strategies. It is often at the local level that the interface of these factors can best be addressed.

This book brings the reader information on innovative initiatives that have succeeded in bringing new skills to people formerly trapped in low-wage jobs in various OECD countries.