The Skills-Productivity Nexus: Connecting Industry Training and Business Performance
This report has been written as part of a joint Department of Labour/Industry Training Federation project aimed at improving the ability of Industry Training Organisations (ITOs) to assist workplaces to raise their productivity. The report sets out results of a literature scan exploring the links between skills, their application, and productivity, and also documents the experience of a number of manufacturing ITOs in expanding the breadth of their services beyond skills development.
Acknowledgement
Prepared for the Department of Labour and the Industry Training Federation
Owen Harvey and Peter Harris
Innovation & Systems Ltd
ISBN 978-0-478-28182-8
© Crown copyright 2008
April 2008
Disclaimer
The Department of Labour has made every effort to ensure that the information contained in this report is reliable, but makes no guarantee of its accuracy or completeness and does not accept any liability for any errors. The Department may change the contents of this report at any time without notice.
This material is Crown copyright unless otherwise stated and may be reproduced free of charge without requiring specific permission. This is subject to it being reproduced accurately and not being used in a derogatory manner or in a misleading context. The source and copyright status should be acknowledged. The permission to reproduce Crown copyright protected material does not extend to any material in this report that is identified as being the copyright of a third party.
Department of Labour
PO Box 3705
Wellington
New Zealand
www.dol.govt.nz
Industry Training Federation
PO Box 24-194
Wellington
New Zealand
www.itf.org.nz
Department of Labour Preface
A focus on workplace productivity is not just about short term ways to improve the bottom line. It means being open to new ideas and working out how new skills, technologies, products, services and work practices can improve the business. This involves exploring all the ways that workplaces can do things better and smarter. It demands a focused effort and strategic approaches across training institutions, industry, unions, firms, and government.
The Workplace Productivity Reference Group (comprising business, union and government representatives) advises on the implementation of the Workplace Productivity Agenda, which focuses on how New Zealand can achieve improvements in workplace productivity.
The Reference Group supported the establishment of workplace productivity projects to trial different approaches to implementing productivity-related change. The lessons from these projects will be distributed through participating firms and industry partners and made available to other firms, industry sectors, and regional networks.
The productivity projects are undertaken jointly by the Department of Labour and trusted partners. The first of these projects was signed with the Industry Training Federation in October 2007. The Department of Labour has great pleasure in supporting the contribution of this first report from the project, The Skills-Productivity Nexus, to our collective knowledge about how we can best approach and influence productivity-enhancing change in our workplaces.
Andrew Annakin
Deputy Secretary - Workplace Group
Department of Labour
www.dol.govt.nz
Industry Training Federation Preface
New Zealand's Industry Training Organisations (ITOs) are established by their industries to carry out a range of activities, principally involving the development and arrangement of industry-related education and training.
ITOs have been in operation since the passage of the Industry Training Act in 1992. Over that period they have evolved and developed in response to the changing needs of New Zealand industry. They now provide services to over 35,000 businesses and 180,000 individual employees every year.
Increasingly, as the labour market has tightened, the industries and firms that ITOs work with are seeking assistance with meeting the challenges of addressing skill shortages and raising labour productivity.
While ITOs continue to work to improve the relevance and availability of education and training within and for industry, they are increasingly working with individuals and firms to ensure that skills are effectively utilised within the workplace. This report documents some of the ways that ITOs are going about these increasingly important tasks.
The ITF and ITOs look forward to working with their industries, government agencies and researchers to further understand how they can add value to their services, so that the effective use of skill and productivity in New Zealand's workplaces can be maximised.
Jeremy Baker
Executive Director
Industry Training Federation
www.itf.org.nz