For more information visit
www.skillshighway.govt.nz
DOL 11273.1
Measuring the success of your workplace literacy training programme
Is poor workplace literacy impacting on your bottom line?
Research shows that about a million Kiwis lack the reading, writing, maths and communication skills
they need at work. This can have major eects on your everyday business through mistakes, customer
complaints, wastage, and time lost through accidents and injuries.
If you establish a workplace literacy training programme in your organisation, you’re likely to see real
benets. These may range from better performance and productivity to lower sta turnover and a better
health and safety culture.
Template for measuring success
Large organisation
Why measure your programmes success?
Workplace literacy training is a signicant investment, so it’s
important to measure its success.
By setting benchmarks and keeping track of your programme’s
progress and results, you can check that it’s meeting your
business and training goals, identify areas for improvement and
make changes where they’re needed. Its all about having quality
assurance in your organisation.
About this template
We’ve designed this template to help you measure the success
of your workplace literacy training programme. Once completed,
it provides information on:
· your business and employees
· your workplace literacy training programme
· how you measure its success
· the results of your measurement.
You can then use this information as a benchmark for future
reviews – to measure how well your programme is doing over
time and where you might do things better.
The template has been developed with help from the Workplace
Literacy Leaders Forum, which is made up of executives from
small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and large corporate
organisations.
How to use the template
The template is made up of four main sections. Each one
requires you to provide specic information. Most questions
include example answers as a guide.
While it’s important that you provide as much information as
possible, you might nd that only certain parts of the template are
relevant. In this case, simply choose the parts that work for you.
For more information visit
www.skillshighway.govt.nz
1. About us
Name
Sector (for example: manufacturing, horticulture,
telecommunications)
Our vision
Our mission
Our values
Business locations
Organisational structure/divisions (insert a
separate chart if appropriate)
Distinctive characteristics of our work
(for example: seasonal work, shift work, online
business)
Template
For more information visit
www.skillshighway.govt.nz
Number of people we employ:
· Full time
· Part time
· Casual
· Seasonal
· Total
Our cultural make-up (number of employees):
· New Zealand European
· Māori
· European
· Asian
· Pacic peoples
· Middle Eastern/Latin American/African
· Other
Number of employees who speak English as a
second language (ESOL)
Number of employees who don’t speak
English at all
Average employee age
Employee turnover rate
2. How we work
Our customers
(for example: retailers, general public)
Key business functions (ie the work that
employees undertake) (for example: parts
manufacturing, seasonal fruit-picking)
Employee roles (for example: machinery
operator, sales representative, IT support)
Workplace literacy training programme/s we
are oering (and links to other programmes if
relevant, such as the FISH! Philosophy, Lean, High
Performance Work Initiative) (see example below)
For more information visit
www.skillshighway.govt.nz
Example
Literacy training programmes we are oering
· Our literacy training programme is part of a wider training programme that aims to ensure our employees can do their jobs well
and make our business more successful. Our programmes cover customer service training, health and safety training, customer
relationship skills training and job-specic training (machine operator, forklift driver).
· We oer training to employees in our head oce and all three factories.
3. Our workplace literacy training programme
Programmes purpose
Programmes goals for:
· The wider organisation (for example:
improve productivity, improve health and
safety, be seen as a good employer, identify
talented employees)
· Our overall operations (for example: improve
in-team accuracy and problem-solving skills,
improve customer satisfaction, raise sta
morale)
· Individual departments/units (for example:
reduce errors in manufacturing, improve
nancial analysis skills, improve record-
keeping)
· Our employees (for example: improve
condence, provide a platform for further
learning, improve career opportunities, enable
greater responsibility and accountability)
Programmes t with other programmes,
policies and initiatives (for example: other
training and qualication programmes, health and
safety policy, ACC Workplace Safety Management
Practices programme)
Programme participants: Name and role (include qualications and hours allocated, if relevant)
· Champion (for example: Director of Human
Resources)
· Leader(s) (for example: National Learning
and Development Manager)
For more information visit
www.skillshighway.govt.nz
· Coach(es)/Trainer(s)/Tutor(s) and
qualications if appropriate
(in-house or outsourced)
· Administrative support sta
(for example: HR and Training Adviser,
Tertiary Education Commission)
· Participants
· Others (for example: in-house champions and
mentors)
Programme funding source(s)
(for example: Tertiary Education Commission,
employer contributions)
How we promote the programme (for
example: in-house yers, intranet, CEO updates,
noticeboards, word of mouth via managers)
Programme resources:
· Teaching materials (for example: laptops with
access to HR records, resource books, lesson
plans, online learning modules, dictionaries)
· Learner resources (for example: notebooks,
hand-outs, workbooks)
· Equipment (for example: furniture,
whiteboards, photocopiers, computers,
internet, workplace machinery)
· Facilities/Venue (for example: oces, training
rooms, smoko rooms, outside and on the job)
· Administrative support (for example: learning
progression database, coaching and privacy
policies, report-writing and distribution,
training and learner record moderation)
For more information visit
www.skillshighway.govt.nz
Time allocated to programme (for example:
three hours per week plus homework at times to
suit learners and the organisation in seasonal
downtimes like winter)
How we assess employees needs
(see example below)
Post-assessment process (see example below)
How we deliver our programme
(see example below)
Example: How we assess employees’ needs
· Learners volunteer for, or are referred to, our training programme.
· They are assessed before (or if impractical soon after) they join the programme.
· If a learner has (or is assumed as having) a need that the programme can’t meet, they are referred to local support services.
· All managers are aware of the need to identify and respond to potential issues among our employees.
The assessment process:
1. The tutor gives a programme orientation.
2. Each learner is assessed according to topics such as:
· reading, vocabulary and comprehension
· shape, area and direction (measurement)
· speaking using strategies to communicate
· listening with understanding (comprehension)
· computing
· key skills required for their role.
3. The information is recorded in the learning progression database.
For more information visit
www.skillshighway.govt.nz
Example: Post-assessment process
· The learner’s needs are identied, according to their role in the company and against the company’s needs.
· The learner and tutor agree on the learner’s goals for the short, medium and long term.
· They decide on the training curriculum.
· The learner signs an ‘individual development plan, which covers their goals and focus areas.
· The tutor creates a record for the learner and uploads it to the database (where it can only be accessed by authorised personnel).
Example: How we deliver our programme
· The tutor liaises with the Head of Department and Human Resources to establish the training schedule, activities and resources.
This is uploaded to the learning progression database, with hard copies displayed on noticeboards in training rooms.
· Learner notebooks and resources are issued.
· The training includes group work in classrooms, individual coaching, individual reviews of and feedback on ‘homework’, and
individual on-the-job training.
· The tutor assesses learner progress after each session, and records the details on the database.
· Each learner is assessed when they complete a module, and all learners receive a summary assessment after six months.
· The tutor records anecdotal feedback from learners and site sta, both on the database and in a weekly report to the National
Learning and Development Manager.
· The tutor records any other training the learners complete.
· The tutor records any promotions that result from the training.
· At the programmes end, learners are assessed on the achievement of their goals.
· ‘Successful’ learners are recognised through certicates and a special awards function.
4. Measuring and evaluating our workplace literacy training programme
Visit www.skillshighway.govt.nz for tools you can use to measure the success of your training programme:
· Five NZQA questions to ask during evaluation: www.skillshighway.govt.nz/UserFiles/Evaluating-your-programme.pdf
How we record learner progress (for example: anecdotally,
interviews with sta and learners, sta surveys, company and
learner records – see also example below)
Person(s) responsible for evaluating our programme
For more information visit
www.skillshighway.govt.nz
How we evaluate the programme Key measures (see example below)
The questions we ask ourselves as a result of the
evaluation:
Our answers
· How well are our employees progressing?
· How eective is the training?
· Are our employees guided and supported?
· How well does the training programme meet our skill needs?
· What value does the programme deliver to our business?
· To what extent have the programme goals been met?
How we report the results
For more information visit
www.skillshighway.govt.nz
Example: How we record learner progress
· Tutor reports that include: updates on progress, topics covered, issues and risks identied, number of tutoring and preparation
hours, number of active learners, number of initial or nal assessments, number of individual learning plans reviewed, objectives for
next session.
· Payroll reports on: learner attendance records, signed tutor work records.
· Monthly status report from National Learning and Development Manager to Director of Human Resources.
· Quarterly progress report to Tertiary Education Commission.
Example: How we evaluate the programme
· Statistics on training attendance rates, unit standards and qualications gained, hazard and incident/injury reporting, ACC levies.
· Analysis of errors, rejection rates, delivery timeframes, maintenance and repair costs, resource use, accident and injury rates, work
completion rates.
· Payroll records: sta absenteeism and turnover rates.
· Learner participation in meetings and using computers.
· Surveys of learners.
· Surveys of supervisors.
· Regular peer reviews, with feedback sought on learners’ strengths, areas of development and suggestions for improvement.
· Regular ‘random samples’ of assessments to ensure consistency in ratings awarded to learners.
· Promotion rates from within the company.
· Interest from other employees in joining the programme.
· Company nancial performance.
· Reports from family members about changes at home (eg, learners more involved in their childrens education, buying computers
for the home).
· Complaints/feedback from colleagues, customers and suppliers.