New Attitudes

As employees gain basic skills, their attitudes become more positive.  As a result, they are better able to cope with change, work with managers, and continue to learn: 

• Better Team Performance

• Improved Capacity to Cope with Change in the Workplace

• Improved Labor-Management Relations

• Reduced Absenteeism

• Improved Employee Morale/Self-Esteem

• Positive Attitude to Lifelong Learning

New Attitudes
Percentage of Employers Reporting Benefits
(n=55)

Better Team Performance

More than 80 per cent of employers saw better team performance among employees who participated in WEPs. Many of them were able to measure improvements of 75 per cent or better in their employees’ team performance.

Some WEP courses impact on employees’ team performance because their curriculum focuses on interpersonal skills. Such courses may have a lasting impact on employees, who soon find ways to apply the lessons they learn in their workplaces. For example, one employer observed that conflict resolution techniques taught in an interpersonal skills course were applied immediately afterwards in a staff grievance meeting. WEP courses may also incorporate teamwork training into courses on communications and problem solving.

Sometimes the course content is less important than the experience: the act of attending a class and meeting colleagues in itself improves an employee’s ability to work in a team. Mixing employees and managers in classroom training sessions in itself may improve team performance afterwards; personal interactions between the two groups creates better team performance later in the workplace.

In one unionized manufacturing plant, a common team problem before WEP training was that employees failed to notify their team leader when faced with a problem because they feared looking stupid. WEP training gave them the skills to spot problems and the self-confidence to bring them to the attention of their team leader.

A WEP course for hospital employees built their self-confidence so they could feel comfortable in teams and confident about sharing their expertise.

"I can’t go out there and tell my house keepers how to clean a floor. They tell me how. We tell them: ‘You are the expert, what can we do to help you do your job better." Workplace education has greatly facilitated that type of communication."

Another cause of improvement is better English language skills. They improve interaction among employees and encourage them to help one another. One hotel where employees from sixteen nations work has had a 25 per cent improvement due to better English skills. At the hotel’s monthly staff meetings most people now speak up and contribute actively.

Better language skills can broaden workplace teams to include many more employees. For example, in one health care facility, after WEP training, nurses’ assistants and housekeepers who have patient contact become part of the nursing team because of their increased willingness and capacity to communicate with patients and share what they find out with the nurses.

Teams do not need to be large to be essential. The case of the farm-owning husband and wife team is instructive. Now that she has gained numeracy skills and the ability to keep better records, she and her husband work better as a team because she is more able to produce the information he needs to operate the farm. She understands the farm better, and he understands the business side of things better.

"We can work together better to get the results we both want."

    - Self-employed Farmer in Central U.S.

Better team performance can yield bottom line results. At one plant, hourly employees who completed a literacy program that gave them the ability to communicate better now make suggestions to managers to improve efficiencies. Their managers listen, take action, and celebrate the employees’ ideas at Goal Review Meetings. Because of this improved teamwork, the plant has increased its yield significantly and has moved from being the company’s lowest producing plant to being the highest.

In one hotel workplace, total absence of conflict among different cultural groups has led to a 50 per cent improvement in team performance. Before the ESL course staff stayed in their cultural groups, now they work in teams every day and communicate between cultures. The hotel was able to move to self-directed work teams, which they would never have been able to do that without ESL. Everyone from managers to dishwashers work in self-directed work teams now.

Not all issues in working effectively with others were resolved through WEP training. Sometimes cliques survived in the workplace for linguistic and cultural reasons. For example, differing cultural norms around behaviors such as touching and eye contact can maintain subtle barriers between co-workers even after shared training experiences.

Team performance improves as employees take more initiatives and the relations among the workers are tighter than before. For example, employees in a continuous machinery operations program learned to rely on each other more and more for their safety. Another source of improvement is the increased capacity of employees to engage in job rotation and cross training. Employees who previously only did one job are able to do several, thereby increasing their capacity to work flexibly in teams.

By improving their coping skills and raising their self-esteem, people are made more communicative. They gain the skills to be productive team players. Some employees had as little contact with supervisors as possible and they rarely talked to co-workers. Once they started taking the classes, the supervisors noticed that people were coming to work a bit earlier and having coffee with co-workers. In this way, the concept of teamwork takes on a whole new dimension.

"We wanted employees to understand procedures and instructions and to be able to think critically and logically. These were key elements in moving towards a team concept in our workplace. In a lot of cases now, the teams run themselves and don’t need supervisors."

The buddy system was very helpful here because it gave participants someone to work with on problems, a person to go to for help. One assembly manager reported that WEP training was the key to moving the whole workplace to a team model. There is more self-management, supervisors are less involved in the day-to-day management of the process – they now rely on team leaders for that.

Improved Capacity to Cope with Change in the Workplace

The skill gains that make employees better able to cope with change in the workplace are often accompanied by changes in awareness and attitude that enhance their willingness to change and so perform better on the job. As employees come to better understand why change is occurring, their capacity for pro-active effort grows.

Employees who gain a better grasp of the significance of change are often more open to the whole concept of continuous improvement. Continuous improvement means change. WEP participants come to understand that and see how they can have a positive effect on their job by sharing their ideas and helping to solve problems. When companies go through a lot of changes and reorganizing, people may find it hard to adapt; understanding why the changes are occurring makes it easier.

WEP graduates gain the confidence to know that they can learn new things to go along with greater awareness. As a result, whether it is a new production line, new equipment, or changes in customer interactions, they feel a greater confidence in their ability to cope with change. Because of their renewed confidence, they have a more positive attitude toward change.

These changes in attitude are often more significant than employers realize. In fact, employers often do not anticipate the extent and positive impact of changed attitudes, confidence and understanding.

"We hadn’t really anticipated some of the benefits. We saw a more positive attitude toward change, an improved understanding and willingness to work within the culture of the group, and a better ability to build and work in teams. Just from these three benefits alone, we got more out of the training than we had expected."

- General Supervisor,
Automotive Systems Manufacturer

Improved Labor-Management Relations

Almost two-thirds of employers found that labor-management relations improved as a result of employee participation in WEPs. As WEPs helped employees gain the confidence to speak more often and more clearly to their managers and supervisors, labor-management relations improved. As a result, sometimes tensions between the union & the company were reduced.

One reason for improved relations is that WEPs are often joint labor-management initiatives. This helps dispel the mindset that sometimes exists that the company only does things that are good for the company and does not consider employees. In the same way, management participation in the courses themselves can significantly improve labor-management relations. At one Health Centre, the impact that the WEP had on relations was described as ‘overwhelming’.

Relations are especially reinforced when, during training, supervisors assist employees who ask for help with difficult course content. This assistance improves the interpersonal skills of employees and supervisors and enhances the quality of their relationship in general. These lines of communication often continue afterwards. In one workplace, WEP graduates ask questions at the Human Resources Department, where they are more communicative, get the information they need and provide feedback.

"Nothing empowers an employee like ESL training. They know if they have a comment, suggestion, or problem they can now bring it forward."

Communications is often a barrier to labor-management relations. Many employers find that after WEPs their employees are more verbal with management and not as reluctant to speak out loud. They are more likely to start a conversation with a manager and with their better communications skills the conversation is more likely to be a useful exchange of ideas or a means for managers to understand their concerns better and vice versa. By being able to get their point across and express their ideas, employees are more able to provide feedback and to accept information they are getting from supervisors. Their improved communications skills close the feedback loop. Employees can see that management cares about them.

New found links between workers and managers are further strengthened when management demonstrates pride in employee’s achievement in WEPs and organizes graduation celebrations and other forms of recognition.

Improved labor-management relations sometimes include unions. This may result from agreeing on shared goals for training employees. In some cases, it was fostered when union officials and managers worked together as equal partners in designing a common project and putting together a budget to upper management to continue funding WEP training. It improved relations because both sides had to work jointly to put the program together. They had a common goal and a common project rather than an adversarial relationship.

In some cases, unions have been very involved in setting up courses and getting employees to take the training. Here, unions are involved not only in the ‘what’ but also in the ‘how’ of worker education. In this more collaborative environment, labor-management grievances are lower.

"Did the WEP program help to improve labor-management relations? Absolutely. It was physically located at the union office. Four other hospitals participated as well, so it required co-operation. It is a good example of labor-management co-operation."

Effective WEP programs often engender better workplace labor-management relations that can create an environment that is much more responsive to change than before. In the long run, this can be one of the most important benefits of running WEP programs and one of the most powerful inducements for employers to get involved.

Reduced Absenteeism

Less important but still a significant for employers is the reduced employee absenteeism among graduates of WEPs, identified by one-third of the employers interviewed. Estimates of the reduction range from 10 - 50 plus per cent.

Absenteeism is not always related to illness; sometimes it is stress, fear, confusion or a sense of isolation that keeps employees from wanting to come to work. The WEP experience often makes a difference and employees find that they ‘like their jobs more’. The explanation may be that WEPs are a key to creating a learning culture within the organization. When people feel that their knowledge and skills are highly valued, are encouraged to speak to management about their needs, are listened to, and feel more valued by their colleagues and their employers, absenteeism tends to fall as their enthusiasm for work rises.

WEPs also help reduce absenteeism because employees understand better the importance of reliability and what that means to the company - including the value to the organization of having its employees show up for work except when they are actually ill.

Improved Employee Morale/Self-Esteem

Participation in WEPs often significantly improves employees’ self-esteem and morale. In one workplace, employee morale climbed an estimated 80 per cent following a WEP orientation course. Similar results emerge from employee surveys in other workplaces. A 1998 survey found that 60 per cent of employees had higher morale as a result of a WEP. Another recent employee survey found that 94 per cent enjoyed working with colleagues, (compared with industry average of 87 per cent); 85 per cent were proud to work for their company (versus industry average of 74 per cent); and 84 per cent said that their work gave them a sense of achievement (compared with industry average of 74 per cent).

Employee morale may go up as soon as employees see their employer investing in a WEP.

"Knowing that your employer willingly makes this kind of investment in your future certainly serves to promote employee morale."

With better skills and new insights from WEP participation, employees are less inclined to see work as a dead end. Their heightened belief that they can do better actually helps them to do better and so feel more positive about their work experiences. Further improvement is due to more interactions between employees and management, better communications, and because people are more confident at expressing themselves.

"If people know their job and have confidence in their skills they will have a more positive attitude towards their job. They will feel more comfortable coming to work than if every day they worry they will encounter problems on the job they don’t know how to deal with."

Workplace education is especially good for employee morale when management demonstrates pride in employees’ accomplishments through graduation celebrations, pictures and other recognition.

"The greatest benefit from WEP was the positive contribution to peoples’ self-esteem. The company held a graduation ceremony at the end of each WEP course and employees were always very proud to attend the ceremony and receive their certificate. A confident and proud workforce is what any employer really needs."

Employees enjoy the recognition. As one employer put it, "Employees aren’t as bashful. They are proud. They let people know what they have accomplished."

With improved morale comes a more positive sense of satisfaction, and heightened self-confidence and self esteem. This more positive sense of self, in turn, helps employees communicate their needs better and increase their ability to advocate for themselves. Supervisor evaluations show the connection between self-esteem and personal growth in employees – 80 per cent noted an improvement in self-esteem, and 60% noted an improvement with respect to personal growth.

Higher morale and self-esteem can have a positive impact on workplace performance. Employees are more likely to understand the organization’s goals, feel they have a stake in their jobs, and take ownership of their work. They are also more willing to try new things and actively seek additional training that will prepare them. Employers use terms like ‘more dependable’, ‘more loyal’ and ‘more engaged’ to describe them. This can have a very tangible benefit: increased loyalty means that employees are less likely to leave even when offered better wages and benefits elsewhere.

Sometimes, WEP experiences are particularly beneficial to a certain type of employee, such as single mothers or recent immigrants with ESL needs, because workplace education gives them both skills and hope for the future.

"An almost immediate by-product of basic training is a rise in the level of self-esteem. Employees realize that there is hope—that there is a light at the end of the tunnel—that they don’t have to be stuck at this entry level position—that they may soon be in a position to go for other jobs."

Positive Attitude to Lifelong Learning

One longer-term benefit of WEPs is the creation of a more positive attitude to lifelong learning in employees.

For some, becoming aware that workplaces are always going to change and that they need to be able to cope with change in order to get and keep a job and win promotion engenders more positive attitudes to learning. For others, it is the removal of the fear of training failure that comes from successfully completing basic skills training in a WEP.

"Up until now, the employees haven’t seen the great driving need to keep up. The culture is that we have a mature workforce that have been doing their jobs forever and they know their jobs. They are not motivated to change. But now that we have been bought the need to keep up … has put a bit of fear into the employees. The learning lab is busier now."

Feeling more positive about learning prompts many WEP graduates to take advantage of other education and training opportunities—GED, community college, or certificate courses. They are much more excited by learning and more confident of their ability to succeed.

Employers who recognize the value of positive employee attitudes try harder to turn their workplaces into learning environments. The move towards a learning environment is often tied to offering additional workplace training. This investment may have the spin-off effect of encouraging employees to find their own courses outside the workplace. In one company, tuition reimbursements have tripled in the last few years for this reason.

"We continue to see success in employees by providing an environment of learning and support."

Changing employee attitudes about lifelong learning go hand in hand with employers’ commitment to learning and personal growth as a key to corporate success. As one employer put it, "The company realizes that as we grow as an organization we need our employees to grow as well. Our new president wants all employees to get to a higher level."

In one organization, employees who joined a WEP for the extra pay they could earn hourly for attending, came to realize that skills training is more important than a few extra hours’ wages. They now understand that WEP gives them the basic skills required to get ahead on the job. In the past, their jobs did not require them to read charts, know math or do calculations. Now, even if they keep the same job, not only do they need these skills, they may have to learn whole new processes and how to operate new equipment.

Employers do well who match changing employee attitudes about learning with a willingness to engage employees in planning and decision-making as well as production. This may involve a change in philosophy: to think that managers are not better than employees and that ‘three brains are better than one’.

"I know we have to produce the work, but we do that through people. So we want managers who work through their employees. We want to ask employees for their opinions and really listen to what they have to say. We really listen to those recommendations so that when we do something there is a reason for it and we get buy in."

Ideally, employers give their employees training then provide a work environment that uses the skills and complements the training. In this way, a company’s desire for continuous improvement can be supported by trained employees who have the willingness and capacity for learning throughout their working lives.

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Last updated: February 18, 2001 .