WHAT DOES WORKPLACE LITERACY MEAN?
Workplace literacy means the language and numeracy skills a person needs to be an effective member of your staff. It is sometimes called functional literacy.
These skills include:
- speaking
- listening
- numeracy
- reading and writing
- using technology.
They have an effect on how well people can do their job, how they work with other people and how quickly they learn. This in turn affects how easily your business can introduce new ideas, new technology or new approaches to the way you operate.
Tasks in your workplace that require literacy skills may include:
- handling cash and other forms of payment
- filling in forms and stock orders
- taking and recording telephone enquiries
- following production schedules
- stocktaking
- estimating lengths, quantities or weights
- understanding health and safety rules
- reading job sheets, instructions and notices
- contributing to team meetings
- finding solutions to everyday problems.
A low level of workplace literacy does not mean low intelligence. A person may have low literacy skills because, for example:
- they have recently arrived from a non-English speaking country
- their schooling was interrupted because of sickness, family situations or having moved around a lot
- they have a ‘hidden' disability such as poor eyesight, hearing or dyslexia (a reading disability)
- they come from a family background with low family literacy levels, or where English is not spoken at home.
