WHAT ARE WORKPLACE ESSENTIAL SKILLS?
(compiled by Pat Salt)

Definitions of Workplace Essential Skills

• the kinds of skills people use to carry out a wide variety of everyday occupational tasks
• the foundation upon which more occupation-specific skills are built (the Velcro to which other training sticks)
• enabling skills that help people perform tasks required by their jobs
• skills which allow workers to learn new skills
• skills which enhance a worker’s ability to adapt to workplace change
• skills necessary to use printed and written information to perform competently in a workplace and to develop one’s knowledge and potential
• basic skills that help workers to fulfill their individual and collective potential at work, at home, in the union, and in the community
• generic skills required by most workplaces in the country
• the skills that help you to keep a job
• the literacy and thinking skills that individuals require on a daily basis
• the kinds of skills called basic, foundation, enabling, core, transversal, generic, critical, portable, key, non-job specific skills

Some Specific Examples of Workplace Essential Skills

• reading and responding to an email
• writing in a logbook
• reading instructions in a manual
• interpreting a technical drawing
• making a call to a supplier
• referring to a collective agreement
• converting miles to kilometres
• scheduling daily tasks
• making a decision about which supplies to order
• working with a colleague to estimate project expenses
• conducting research on the internet
• remembering the accounting code for an expense claim