Employers profiled in the case studies summarized above have all followed different paths in their journey toward investing in Essential Skills. That being said, each employer studied has made a very pragmatic decision to invest in the Essential Skills of its workers and to ensure that the organization and its work force derive maximum benefit from these investments. There was no evidence of employers taking a “leap of faith” when committing their scarce resources to Essential Skills training. Instead, employers, managers, trainers and employees demonstrated a strong-willed determination to make Essential Skills training work for them.
When individual employees, teams and organizations stay the course on their Essential Skills investments, they experience, both individually and collectively, a range of hard and soft returns. High performance on the part of both individuals and organizations depends on recognizing and fully leveraging this combination of hard and soft returns. While hard returns, such as increased productivity and improved workplace safety, are among the most preferred business outcomes, softer returns—such as improved morale, improved self-confidence levels and improved communication—are not to be underestimated.
It is becoming more apparent that doing nothing to enhance Essential Skills and employability attitudes is not an option in most workplaces. Pressure on wages from a shrinking labour force, challenges from competitors to improve quality and cut costs, and rising skill requirements for all workers make investment in Essential Skills not only imperative but also, increasingly, irresistible.