Staff literacy leads to improved profitability

The Hon Kate Wilkinson applauds this year's Skills Highway Award winner, GT Liddell, which increased its income 64% over three years through workplace literacy training.

"This is a great example of a small New Zealand company taking an innovative approach to improving its bottom line," says Ms Wilkinson.

"However, GT Liddell's real achievement has been inspiring hard to reach workers and turning them on to learning," says Ms Wilkinson.

The Greymouth engineering and civil construction firm won the Skills Highway Award for boosting employees reading, writing, maths and communications skills.

"Literacy and numeracy skills are necessary for every workplace task, but many companies overlook this area when upskilling their staff," says Ms Wilkinson.

"Through workplace literacy training GT Liddell has reduced clerical errors, while increasing productivity and improving staff morale," says Ms Wilkinson.

The Skills Highway programme, run by the Department of Labour, supports employers with practical information, tools and resources to improve workforce literacy and numeracy skills.

For more information about workplace literacy programmes and the Equal Employment and Opportunities (EEO) Trust Work & Life Awards, visit: www.skillshighway.govt.nz/eeo