Projects > Workplace Education Facts

1 out of 3 Canadian employers experience basic skills-related problems with their workforce, yet less than 1 out of 10 employers are involved in literacy programs or referrals to programs. (Source: International Adult Literacy Survey, Statistics Canada, 1994)

The impact of Basic Skills Programs on Canadian Workplace, by the Workplace Education Center of ABC CANADA, reports on 86 employer and employee representatives from 53 workplaces which had participated in basic skills training for at least 1 year:

• 79% reported increased productivity
• 84% reported improvements in the quality of people's work
• 73% reported an increase in the work effort
• 87% reported more competent use of workplace based technology
• 82% reported increased health and safety
• 97% reported increased self confidence that benefits the workplace

When 600 managers from a broad spectrum of Canadian industry were surveyed in 1992, about 1/3 of them reported that poor literacy caused serious difficulty with:

• Introducing new technology.
• Product quality.
• Productivity.
  (Source: Adult Literacy and Economic Performance, Centre for Educational Research and Innovation, 1992)
  

The estimated annual cost of low literacy to Canadian business is $1.6 billion for industrial accidents alone. This does not include the cost of illiteracy from lost productivity in other areas. (Source: Measuring the Costs of Illiteracy in Canada, Canadian Business Task Force on Literacy, 1988)

The Allen-Bradley Corporation, maker of programmable controllers, found that customer service calls shifted from 50 calls a day to 2 calls a month after they redesigned their documents using plain language and readable formats. ("Plain English on the Plant Floor". Plain Language Principals and Practice, B. Jereb (ed.), Wayne State University Press, 1991)

For information about implementing an Education Program at your workplace please contact us at:

Literacy Ontario Central South
113 Park Street South
Suite 203
Peterborough ON K9J 3R8
Phone: (705) 749-0675
Fax: (705) 749-1453
Email: learningworks@locs.on.ca