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