Easier for employers & individuals to access IAG Reaping the Benefits of Skills Inaugural Meeting of...

Easier for employers & individuals to access IAG

Reaping the Benefits of Skills

Inaugural Meeting of the Skills Utilisation Communications and

Learning Network

15 September 2009Col Baird

Skills Team (Strategy and Relations)


Presentation Outline

• Background

• Core Messages

• Roles of Network and Partners


AMBITIONS FOR SKILLS IN THE WORKPLACE

OBJECTIVES

More confident, motivated and relevantly skilled individuals who are aware of the skills

they possess and know how to best use them in the

workplace

More workplaces that provide meaningful and appropriate encouragement, opportunity and support for employees to

use their skills effectively

GREATER DEMAND FOR

SKILLS

BETTER SKILLS ACQUISITION AND

DEVELOPMENT

Learning and teaching that enables the effective

application of skills in the workplace

Learning and teaching that enables the effective

application of skills in the workplace

GOALS

EFFECTIVE SKILLS UTILISATIONIncrease performance and productivity

Improve job satisfaction and employee well-beingStimulate investment, enterprise and innovation

AIMS

Enables better

informal learning

Enables better

informal learning

BETTER WORKPLACE PRACTICES


Key Enablers of Workplace Change

• Leadership and management

• Employee trust and motivation


Skills Utilisation Leadership Group

• Established in September 2008• Chaired by Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Education and

Lifelong Learning, the Group’s role is to champion effective use of skills in the workplace

• Membership includes leaders from:– Government– Business– Unions– Public bodies – Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands

Enterprise, Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council

– Third sector (Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations)


Progress

• ‘Vision’ statement agreed (November 2008)• Scoping study published (December 2008)• Literature review published (December 2008)• Employer engagement strategy adopted (June

2009)• Scottish Funding Council funding for college and

university-led skills utilisation projects announced (June 2009)

• Scottish Enterprise and Skills Development Scotland undertaking a project to identify which organisational strategies to implement effective skills utilisation best work in particular circumstances (outcome due December 2009)


UKCES Skills Utilisation Project

• Skills utilisation literature review (published by the Scottish Government) and a synthesis of research on High Performance Working (HPW)

• Organisational HPW case studies • HPW policy review • Development of a survey tool for HPW


Employer Engagement StrategyAim• Increase the number of employers co-creating with their

employees workplace environments that make better use of skills

Objectives

1. To increase awareness of the relevance and benefits of better skills use to organisations and of the range of workplace practices that may improve the use of skills in their type of workplace

2. To help organisations implement workplace change to better use skills

3. To better support key delivery agencies and other stakeholders to deliver the above


Increasing Awareness

• Adopted a communications plan– Influence those who influence organisations

• they know how best to communicate with their audiences and are better placed to engage with employers in their own ‘language’

– Skills utilisation messages to employers should be integrated with other messages about organisational/business development

– Don’t mention the term– Advice web portal: www.scotland.gov.uk/skillsuse– Partner-facing pages (to be developed)

• Public sector to lead by example


Helping Organisations Implement Workplace Change

• Enhance services for leadership and management, including Scottish Government review to supplement activities of UK Commission for Employment and Skills

• Embed support for skills utilisation in organisational development support services – Enterprise agencies– Skills Development Scotland– Business Gateway website– Partnership Action for Continuing Employment


Better Support Key Delivery Agencies and Stakeholders

• ‘Best strategies’ project – What works best in particular circumstances– Desk research and sector case studies– Aim to complete in December

• Establish a skills utilisation cross-sectoral communications and learning network – comprising

• Scottish Government (interim lead)• key public sector delivery agencies• sector leads – creative industries; energy; financial and business

services; food and drink; life science; tourism; construction; universities; local government; health; and third sector

• other stakeholders• leading private sector organisations


Core Messages

• While investing in skills is vitally important, on its own it is not enough. Organisational performance and productivity is driven by the effective use of skills. Many organisations have an untapped resource– the underused skills of their workforce

• By improving how the existing skills of the workforce are deployed, organisations will be much better placed to weather the economic downturn and to take advantage of future opportunities

• It is an issue that is also important beyond the current economic situation. A low growth economy is a concern for each and every one of us because it will dramatically affect the way we will live in the future. It affects our job opportunities, our incomes and the aspirations of our people. Making the best use of skills and our people is of fundamental importance in driving the high skill, high productivity workplaces that we seek


Core Messages

Making better use of skills is about:

confident, motivated and relevantly skilled individuals who are aware of the skills they possess and know how to best use them in the workplace

working in

workplaces that provide meaningful and appropriate encouragement, opportunity and support for employees to use their skills effectively

in order to

increase performance and productivity, improve job satisfaction and employee well-being, and stimulate investment, enterprise and innovation.


Core Messages

• With the right encouragement, support, (and in some circumstances, additional training), staff may be able to use their skills more effectively

• The main enablers of better workplace practices are leadership and management and employee trust and motivation. Equality issues are also an integral feature. Employers and employees (and their representatives) need to work in partnership to deliver sustainable meaningful change

• The impact of new skills training can be maximised if off-the-job training is effectively managed to ensure that what is learned is actually transferred to the workplace


Examples of Better Working Practices

• High employee involvement practices• Human resources practices • Reward and commitment • Workplace design • Job design • ICT systems • Equality issues


Private Sector Employers

• Key specific benefits to private sector employers of making better use of the skills of your workforce include:– effective workplaces can make you more productive - is about

unlocking the firm's potential – effective workplace practices can help you become more

efficient. Think about your bottom line - more profit; – better working practices can help retain and recruit staff – you can maximise the impact of your skills investment by

creating a workplace environment that supports the effective use of those skills.


Public and Third Sector Employers

• Key specific benefits to public and third sector employers of making better use of the skills of your workforce include:– effective workplaces can make you more productive and

efficient – effective workplace practices can help you improve quality and

effectiveness – a culture of effective skills use can help your organisation

respond and manage change better – better working practices help retain and recruit staff – you can maximise the impact of your skills investment by

creating a workplace environment that supports the effective use of those skills


Employees

• Key specific benefits to employees of making better use of your skills include:– more rewarding jobs – increased job satisfaction/contribution/motivation – more aware of own abilities – can be easier to solve problems – potentially better career opportunities and increased job

security – better working environment – more autonomy– unlocking your potential


Roles of Cross-Sectoral Network

To help:• exchange information and learn from each other

about how best to communicate about better use of skills– what to say– how to say it

• share knowledge and experience to help identify better workplace practices

• learn from implementation of own corporate skills utilisation strategies

• align organisational development support services


Role of Partners

• Communicate messages about skills utilisation to employers – Integrated with wider communications about

improving performance, productivity, competiveness and creating better jobs

– differentiated where appropriate to reflect market positioning, geography and size of organisation and taking into account equalities issues


Additional Role of Sector Leads

• Co-ordinate activities with partner organisations in their sector– develop and communicate sector-specific

messages further– informed by the outcomes of the best

strategies project


Additional Role of Identified Partners

• Communication of cross-sectoral issues e.g. the use of ICT systems and other technologies and common issues affecting small and medium-sized enterprises – Scottish Enterprise– Highlands and Islands Enterprise– Skills Development Scotland– Alliance of Sector Skills Councils


Making Better Use of Skills Website

Please signpost and include in your website a link to:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/skillsuse


Inaugural Meeting of the Network

• Discuss what are partners doing/planning to do• Identify the challenges (and opportunities) to deliver

key messages and how best to ‘sell’ them• Agree the roles of the Network, partners and sector

leads• Discuss how the Network can best serve the needs

of partners• Agree how the Network should go about its

business to achieve its objectives.• In a year’s time, what would we like the Network to

have achieved?


Contact Details

Col BairdEmployability and Skills DivisionScottish Government5th Floor5 Atlantic Quay 150 Broomielaw Glasgow G2 8LU

Tel: 0300 244 1312Email: [email protected]

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