The Impact of Basic Skills Programs on Canadian Workplaces: Results of a Study for ABC CANADA Literacy Foundation

Ellen Long, 1997, 40 pages - Canadian promoters of workplace basic skills programs are commonly asked for evidence about the impact of programs on the workplace. Companies are increasingly focused on bottom-line considerations: “What,” they ask, “is the payback for us?” Though there is a substantial body of literature about workplace literacy, virtually none is Canadian, and very little is in a form that would be useful for promoting programs to skeptical workplaces. This report is based on the results of telephone interviews with business and labour representatives from 53 workplaces across Canada. Ninety-three per cent of the eligible workplaces contacted were able to participate. Based on this study, it can be stated without reservation that basic skills programs are having a dramatically positive impact on Canadian workplaces. Regardless of their position - whether company owners, human resources people, labour representatives, or participants themselves - the word is the same: workplace basic skills programs work. Representatives from all levels, and from all types of workplaces, concur that basic skills education influences not only ‘soft’ factors such as confidence levels, but also hard, bottom-line factors as well. This study provides solid information for effective, peer-based promotional strategies that are useful in a broad range of contexts.

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