Ability to Work Smarter

When employees gain skills that allow them to work smarter and better, employers gain:

• Increased Quality of Work

• Increased Output of Products and Services

• Reduced Time per Task

• Reduced Error Rate

• Better Health and Safety Record

• Reduced Wastage in Production of Products and Services

Increased Quality of Work

One of the fundamental benefits and perhaps the clearest sign that employees are working smarter and better is that employers detect an increase in the quality of their employees’ work. The fact that 82 per cent of employers identified such improvements vividly demonstrates how often WEPs benefit workplace performance. For many employers the degree of improvement is highly significant — some report increases in quality of 75 - 100 per cent. Some employers have quantified these gains through feedback from customer and patient satisfaction surveys.

"Training programs really drive continued business improvement. If you want to see improvements in multiple aspects of your business, you need good training programs. Need to improve knowledge to increase skills."

"While I wouldn’t say that employees do their work faster, they do it better. We are not as concerned about doing a job faster as we are about quality.

- Cast House Director,
Large Aluminum Manufacturer

Employers identify many direct causes for better quality work. Most agree that employees who take more pride and ownership in their jobs do higher quality work. In one workplace, improved attitudes had the effect of making switch board operators much better at handling calls because they were more responsive to callers. In other workplaces, improved ability to read and understand English has meant fewer errors and increased understanding of documents with the result that employees are able to help improve work processes and products. Sometimes this yields basic improvements like increasing an employee’s ability to write reports of what they actually did at work rather than copying by rote from others or from a previous report. It can also yield more sophisticated gains in quality. For example, in one manufacturing workplace the ability to read diagrams and descriptions of how products should function has helped employees to see when there are problems with the products.

Better reading and writing skills tend to enhance the quality of paper work and reduce mistakes. In one manufacturing plant this meant fewer errors in pay checks; in another plant the manufacturer found that the quality of letters sent out improved and the billings were more accurate. In several manufacturing and health care workplaces, the improved capacity to read and maintain charts that tracked data on production, error rates and meeting timetables helped employees improve the overall quality of their output. A WEP course for hospital employees improved their grasp of medical terminology so that employees were able to understand the proper routing of medical supplies. Before, they were filling out the orders blindly; they didn’t know what the words meant.

Self-employed people can also benefit. For example, a self-employed farmer finds that she can now produce clear, neat reports that improve her accounting and management and have a positive impact on the quality of her farm’s output.

Improvements in quality often arise from better listening and language skills that allow employees to understand more sophisticated instructions. Improved verbal skills allow employees to contribute to the production process more fully by sharing their ideas and suggesting improvements. With better communications skills, employees are more confident workers who are more willing to get involved in continuous improvement of the process - in itself an important ingredient in increasing the quality of the work performed.

WEPs can tangibly improve quality by helping employees get their GEDs and other qualifications. For example, in one hospital, two women working in a hospital kitchen staff got their GEDs and went on to take food service management courses by correspondence with the direct effect that they improved the quality of their work and the quality of the food that the hospital serves.

Heightened awareness of the importance of high quality work to the success of the organization and to job security in itself often leads to improvements. Employees are more conscientious to perform their task right when they see how their efforts fit into the big picture and when they become more aware of quality as an issue in the workplace. Generally, the quality of employees’ work rises as they become more aware of what is expected of them

"Before training, quality was a result of luck rather than intention."

- Director of Human Resources,
Large Northwestern Hotel

Quality assurance can benefit immensely from improved employee skills, attitudes and behaviors that lead to better quality work. In one electronics manufacturing firm undergoing ISO 9000 certification there was a need for employees to understand the production process and their role in it extremely well in order to meet customer audits. With WEP graduates the company was able to win many supplier awards. In fact, some customers have become so confident of the company’s quality assurance program that they no longer re-inspect the work. Internally, quality assurance has been pushed down - assemblers are now doing a lot of their own inspection.

"We underestimate the impact of non-professional staff in hospitals. Of course a lot depends on the reputation of the medical staff, but patients also expect a certain standard of room cleanliness and food quality. The upgrading helps people take pride in their work. One student said to me that when she was finished cleaning a room she wanted it to be so clean and smell so fresh that she wouldn’t mind having any of the her family in that room."

- Cast House Director,
Large Aluminum Manufacturer

Increased Output of Products and Services

Nearly two-thirds of the employers found that the output of products and services increased as a result of employee participation in WEPs. Typically, employers’ estimated gains in the range of 15 to 50 per cent. Some of the measured gains are striking.

"Productivity has increased—the rate of growth in product output has far outpaced the growth in the number of people. We do things smarter and more effectively."

- Quality Services Manager,
Large Dental Products Manufacturing Company

For example, at one manufacturing company where shipments grew from $40 million to $60 million in 1.5 years, the WEP program was a definite factor in the growth. At an auto parts manufacturing plant, tire production climbed from 4,000 to 7,000 tires per day as a result of a combination of improved production techniques, advances in technology and the enhanced capacity of employees to work productively in new conditions. A third plant’s sales grew five per cent in 3-4 years, largely due to the dramatic increase in the skills of its workforce, which allows the company to produce more technical equipment and sell complete systems rather than only ‘rudimentary parts’. A transportation company experienced a 10-15 per cent increase in the number of loads delivered because its employees raised their output. Finally, at an electronics manufacturing company WEP graduates helped the company achieve its goal of gaining ISO certification, a key indicator of excellence and crucial to the company’s ability to compete in global markets.

"Overall, employees are taking more initiative to read the job-related materials. Communications have improved, and there is a major improvement in filling order so output has increased. As a company we are better able to meet increased demand."

- Human Resources Co-ordinator,
Large Electrical Manufacturing Company

Evidence of increased output is often found in supervisors’ and managers’ evaluations of employees, and records of individual production. In fact, increased output is often measured at the level of the individual employee. For example, at one company, the employer measured an increase in productivity for one employee by tracking the number and accuracy of bills sent out in a day. He found that the employee was sending more bills and billing more accurately after her WEP course.

The case of the self-employed farmer further demonstrates the practical impact of WEPs for the small employer. One farmer was able to improve milk production by culling unproductive animals from their herd. She gained the skills to use a new system to figure out how much money she could invest in additional feeding of her cows. As a result, average production rose from 40 pounds to 65 pounds per cow. Her new accounting skills helped her determine costs and aided her in planning an expansion program, enabling the farm to grow. A second farmer reported similar gains and said that the courses she took showed her how to determine how to get the maximum output from each field and to better understand what makes a field most productive for the least cost.

Improved customer services often resulted from a combination of heightened skills and changes in attitude. One hospital saw a 75 per cent increase which it ascribed to its employees having a more positive attitude towards the patients and to one another. A health center witnessed a similar improvement in customer services because its employees became more efficient at directing calls to the right person and had better interpersonal skills in dealing with patients. Understanding is also important. Employers ascribe gains in output to the company’s ability to convey the corporate work ethic to employees from diverse cultural backgrounds.

Reduced Time Per Task

Another commonly found benefit of WEPs is that employees take less time to perform their work tasks. Reductions in time per task of 50 per cent or more can have an important bottom line impact because they lead to significantly increased output.

"The reduced amount of time it takes the employees to write the charts led to an increased output."

- Director of Training,
Large Eastern Hospital

The impact on the whole company can be significant. In one manufacturing plant, on-time shipments have reached an unprecedented high, rising in two years from 80 per cent to nearly 100 per cent of total shipments. Workplace education has played a major role in the gains.

WEP programs are especially beneficial in this regard when the instructors use specific work tasks as course content. Focused courses can have a significant direct impact on the time employees spent on those tasks when they return to the workplace. One program that used workbooks created specifically around how to do certain jobs as part of the training led to a 25 per cent reduction in performing those tasks on the job.

The most frequently identified improvements relate to reading skills. A health center manager reports a 70 per cent reduction in the time taken to read the charts because more employees read well. Another WEP course’s curriculum lead to an estimated 20 per cent reduction of the time per task as employees gained a better understanding of road map instructions. In another workplace, a 10 per cent improvement came as employees’ were better able to read work cards therefore a better understanding of what to do.

Communications, language comprehension and speaking skills are important sources of time gains. A health care facility reported a 30 per cent reduction in time per task due to a combination of a better ability to communicate directly with the patients in Spanish without an interpreter and a better knowledge of medical terminology that reduced coding time for medical files and billing information. Another employer reported that prior to language training, when employees were given work orders to build or assemble a product the supervisors would first have to read the work order and go get the parts for the employee. Now, time per task is cut because the employees can do all that for themselves.

Better skills can also lead to improved understanding of instructions so that employees do the right thing the first time, reducing time wasted on redoing their tasks. This is often crucial when learning something new. They can read and understand quicker. With better comprehension, supervisors do not have to spend as much time explaining things to them. Employees understand their job and related tasks better, they can apply the training they receive, and understand the documents they need to refer to.

"Employees understand the tasks better and so they are able to do their jobs more quickly. "

- Training Manager,
Large Food Processing Company

Problem solving and basic analytical skills can also save time per task. For example, when a switchboard operator took a calculating class, she improved by 50 per cent the speed with which she opened mail and created the first tape run of checks received. This very noticeable improvement had an impact on the performance of the rest of the business office.

Skill gains can indirectly save time. For example, skills developed in a electrical and maintenance processing plant program led to better maintenance, less equipment down time and speedier repairs in the processing plant which increased production time and allowed more production per shift.

"We are in a fast paced business and have time constraints. The WEP has helped employee understanding of these external customer time constraints."

- Training Specialist,
Large Food Preparation Company

On-the-job training time can also be cut. In one workplace where a key part of an employee’s job is to train other employees, they now do spend less time doing this because they can explain things better and understand instructions better.

Reduced Error Rate

More than half of the employers interviewed found that their employees made fewer errors in their work tasks because of the skills they gained by taking part in WEPs. This matches the proportion of employers who saw employees’ time per task fall in their workplaces. Fewer errors means less frequent need to repeat tasks, cutting the amount of time it takes, on average, to successfully finish each task. It also means that customers are less likely to receive inadequate goods or services, an important consideration for employers who want to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.

"The employees know that the more accurate they are on the job, the happier the customers will be."

- Human Resources Co-ordinator,
Large Electrical Manufacturing Company

Employers’ assessments of the extent of the reduction in errors range from 10 – 30 per cent. Sometimes improvements are measured against processes inside the organization. For example, a family health center recorded a 30 per cent reduction in coding bills and files errors. A manufacturing mill tracked a 10 per cent drop in the frequency of errors in production which was attributed to a better understanding by employees of what to do. The same is true for several self-employed farmers who cut their accounting mistakes by 10 per cent because they were able to find and correct error much more quickly. Sometimes reductions are measured externally. For example, a high tech manufacturing company tracking the rate of product returns by customers saw the return-rate due to defects drop by 10 per cent.

The improvements are all the more impressive when compared with experiences in comparable workplaces that do not run WEPs. This is the case in a large West Coast hotel where employees took WEP training. The hotel experienced 25 per cent fewer accidents and incidents reported in housekeeping involving customers interacting with employees. It had only one-third as many reports as did another hotel in the same chain where employees had not taken WEP training.

Improving understanding of written and oral instructions is often a key to improving performance. In an electronics firm, employees made errors because they did not understand the documentation on the processes they were implementing and would skip steps and try and do things from memory. By training them to improve their ability to read and understand documents they needed to do their job, the company cut errors by 25-30 per cent. The same is true at a company manufacturing specialized medical equipment, where production errors due to misinterpretation by employees decreased following WEP training. Their training enabled employees to understand instructions better and to identify defects earlier in the production process. Examples could easily be multiplied.

The changes can apply to supervisors as well. In a hospital setting out of four supervisors, two took the program and two did not. The two who did have improved the accuracy and timeliness of their work significantly compared with the two who did not.

Better Health and Safety Record

Improved health and safety in the workplace is a benefit enjoyed by half of the employers interviewed. Most reported improvements from 25 - 50 per cent. A better health and safety record means that employers are able to get the most out of their employees while protecting their physical well being. It also tends to raise employee morale and satisfaction which often translates into better work performance, more satisfied customers and, ultimately, into a better bottom-line.

The measured results of programs can be striking. In one workplace, the impact of the safety award program, which encourages people to work in an "accident free" environment, was a 30 per cent annual reduction in workplace accidents for four consecutive years as a more employees took the course: 1995: 153 accidents; 1996: 117 accidents; 1997: 73 accidents; 1998: 53 accidents. In another company, that held what the employer calls the ‘national record’ for lost time due to accidents following delivery of a WEP course, accidents dropped by 33 per cent. At a third company, the 1998 ‘recordable incident rate’ fell to 6.9 from 7.5 in 1997, an improvement of 8 per cent in one year. In another company that delivers a number of health and safety classes, the safety record has improved by over 50 per cent and workers’ compensation payments have been cut in half. It went from being way below the industry standard to being above it. Finally, another company set a safety record following WEP delivery - one million person hours with no accidents. Not surprisingly, employee morale was very good.

"Last year we had our lowest amount of workers compensation claims and the highest amount of compliance of safety skill updates in 15 years. The WEP enabled us to do this—we use safety topics to reinforce reading skills."

- Instructor,
Large Northeastern Medical Center

Often language is the issue. One company with a large Hispanic component in its workforce tried to have signage in both English and Spanish but found this was not always possible. Once employees were trained to understand the signs and had the policies and procedures associated with them explained, the number of incidents and accidents declined according to 55 per cent of supervisors’ evaluations of employees.

"With increased understanding of the language, there is a better understanding of safety information and safety training. "

- Human Resources Representative,
Large Western health Care Manufacturing Company

"If you can’t communicate with someone, it is very difficult to explain to them why something is dangerous or incorrect. Fewer accidents and incidents means less time lost from work."

- Director of Human Resources,
Large Northwestern Hotel

Being able to read and understand safety requirements and safety procedures contained in procedures, rules and regulations, and signs is crucial to improving results. In one workplace where chemicals were used in manufacturing the employer found that the WEP helped employees understand Safety Data Sheets, documents that are critical to safety because they contain the description of chemicals, prevention information, and procedural information for dealing with a spill or incident. In another company, improved ability to read and comprehend fire and safety manuals and information, more accuracy in mixing cleaning solutions, and better understanding of prescription labels, directions and reading charts, all contributed to better health and safety.

Training improved employees’ reading and writing comprehension. This makes a big difference to safety. For example, cleaning fluids have to be mixed according to a set formula. If the employee does not understand what "two-thirds of this and one third of that" means it can be hazardous.

The scale of the improvement varies with the quality of the instruction. One manufacturer observed an ‘amazing’ 60-70 per cent health and safety improvement due to the efforts of a single Instructor. In the view of the employer, her positive impact over health and safety procedures and similar courses greatly exceeded results in the previous five or six years.

Preventative education programs to reduce injuries and improve health may not be the first courses that employees take. Sometimes they need other WEP courses to develop their understanding of the issue in order to see the value of preventative programs and agree to participate.

Reduced Wastage in Production of Products and Services

As employees gain skills and understanding through WEPs they tend to become more efficient and spot ways of cutting waste in production processes and work tasks. Half of the employers interviewed experienced 10 - 25 per cent gains.

Skills are an obvious factor in reducing wastage. As employees become more skilled they acquire a greater capacity to do their work accurately the first time. In one manufacturing environment this meant wastage went down because employees were better able to assemble parts and less likely to use the wrong parts. In another workplace, wear and tear on equipment was reduced 25 per cent because the work was being done properly the first time.

Understanding is another key. When employees understand the importance of reducing wastage and recognize it as a key component in the company culture or philosophy, they place more emphasis on cutting waste. Knowledge is the third lever for improvement. As employees understand their jobs better, they know how to ask the right questions to solve problems and waste less time in production.

Greater knowledge also allows employees to cut waste by knowing exactly how much of a particular component or material they need to use. Examples given by employers include knowing the right amount of fertilizer and seed to use in order to achieve maximum agricultural productivity; knowing the right amount of chemicals to use where previously staff members would just use "a lot" of chemicals because they couldn’t understand the instructions; or knowing how to dispose of products and chemicals properly in recycling programs.

WEPs may be a component in a broader set of training programs to cut production defects. For example, at a manufacturing company with a continuous improvement culture, WEPs have been delivered to employees prior to Statistical Process Control training in a highly successful effort to reduce wastage. WEP courses may also be specially designed to help employees learn how to cut waste. This was the case with a class on how to reduce office clutter, which had an impact on paper waste and led to fewer mistakes in preparing bills, and less waste of time and materials. Work Cards training in another workplace led to a 10 per cent decrease in internal scrap in production, a clear sign of reduced waste.

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Last updated: February 18, 2001 .