lln, skills & productivity: making the leap
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John Benseman Critical Insight. LLN, skills & productivity: making the leap. Productivity. Workplace productivity refers to how efficiently and effectively a workplace can turn its inputs, such as labour and capital, into outputs, such as products and services - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
John BensemanCritical Insight
LLN, skills & productivity:making the leap
Productivity
Workplace productivity refers to how efficiently and effectively a workplace can turn its inputs, such as labour and capital, into outputs, such as products and services
An on-going concern for most Western governments over past decade - closely linked to international competitiveness
New Zealand Cabinet adopted the Workplace Productivity Agenda (WPA) to foster productivity development at the workplace
LLN has ridden on the back of productivity?
New Zealand has slipped to 20th among 58 economies measured on the world competitiveness scoreboard, the just-released IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook says. The drop of five places significantly worsened the trans-Tasman gap, with Australia improving two places to rank fifth in the world (NZH21/5/10).
What drives productivity?
UK: New Zealand Treasury:
1. Investment2. Innovation3. Skills4. Enterprise5. Competition
+ 16 more specific levers
1. Innovation
2. Skills
3. Investment
4. Access to natural resources
New Zealand Institute5. Entrepreneurship
6. Skills & talent
7. Innovation
8. Investment
9. Natural resources
Factors driving productivity (DoL,NZ)
1. Building leadership and management capability
2. Creating productive workplace cultures 3. Encouraging innovation and the use of technol
ogy4. Investing in people and skills
Enables innovation more capable with new technology Work more quickly with fewer mistakes require less supervision accept more responsibility better communicators Training leads to higher skills and wages and lower
staff turnover.
5. Organising work6. Networking and collaboration7. Measuring what matters
From the literature(Mayhew & Neely, 2006, Keep et al, 2006)
Most research at the macro level Investment is the key No one factor is sufficient – ie skills are a
necessary, but not sufficient condition Wide range of strategies, also diverse
outcomes Productivity: increasing efficiency or
increasing quality Need for micro studies at company level –
what happens inside the black box?
Skills and productivity
Empirical evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates link between skills & labour productivity
But, variations from company to company & at different stages of development
‘Need for the right type of skills, at the right level & for the right groups of workers. Blanket approaches may waste a lot of money & produce minimal results’ (Keep et al, 2006)
Skills…
‘Skills are the simplest, best, most direct way to boost productivity. Skills investment is the only way to maintain productivity’ (UK
Sector Skills Development Agency, 2006)
Seen as a scapegoat? (Keep et al, 2006)
1/5 – 1/8 of UK’s gap with Germany & France
Seen as ‘easy lever’ for policy?
LLN not specifically mentioned
Skills, but what skills?
Qualifications (generic vs. specific) – poor proxy for skills?
Specific, technical skills (e.g. machinery) IT skills Soft skills LLN skills
Generic Contextualised
‘More skills (= quals) are needed’ mantra
LLN & productivity
Primarily about changes in workplace practices
Working smarter, not necessarily harder
How to demonstrate LLN’s uniqueness vs. rock climbing or other workplace skills?
Changes in ESs
Improved Productivit
y
The ‘Black Box’
Workplace Productivity Projects evaluated by DoL (2009)
Partnership approach – firms, govt. depts., industry bodies, unions & business consultants
28 workplaces
Direct tailored assistance: needs analyses by business consultants
Implementation (or not) by company Range of interventions
WPP identified needs
strategic and operational planning
management capability and leadership skills
organising and understanding workflow
workplace culture and communication
WPP outcomes
‘Some’ improvement across all 28 sites
‘Moderate’ to ‘considerable’ improvement at 20 sites
Improvements: increased worker participation increased knowledge and skills improved business planning improved work processes
Claimed impacts of LLN programmes
Better quality work Fewer rejects/re-works Greater efficiency
Better use of technology, incl. computers
Improved health and safety Increased self-confidence Better communications
King Salmon
ES to Productivity: the ideal
SHINPOH 1ST GRADE
Slice Height: minimum 30mm Slice Length; 120-175mm Bloodspot: 1-3mm up to 10 spots in a Pack Freckles: less than 1/3 of Pack V. Gapes: < 5mm over 1/3 of Pack Tears: No Tear > 10mm in length
Outcome: 40% increase in top grade products
‘Proving’ the link between learning & application
The ‘black box’ of learning transfer
8 case studies at Fletcher Aluminium
Transfer varies according to: Relevance of teaching content Generic skills vs. specific skills for transfer Nature of LLN skill Degree of LLN need Time Management factors
LLN & productivity – what do we know?
Not a simple input/output/outcome chain Variations across workers & contexts LLN does have an impact on workplace
practices, but not necessarily productivity
LLN skills are a ‘logical’ form of workplace skills
We need to be selective about LLN Who participates What is taught
LLN changing workplace practices – what don’t we know? What can realistically be changed –
micro level, nationally?
How do changes in workplace practices contribute to productivity?
What does LLN need to be ‘bundled’ with?
References
Mayhew, K. and A. Neely (2006). "Improving productivity – opening the black box." Oxford Review of Economic Policy 22(4): 445-456
Keep, E., K. Mayhew, et al. (2006). "From skills revolution to productivity miracle - not as easy as it sounds?" Oxford Review of Economic Policy 22(4): 539-559
