Learning is the Business

ÂťLearning is the business Seven examples of workplace learning benefiting both employers and employees 1

“ The message for managers

is clear: whether you want to increase your productivity, introduce new technology or recruit and retain staff, working with your unions to encourage learning in the workplace will help you achieve your goals�

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Âť Preface The enormous expansion in workplace learning in recent years has helped thousands of trade unionists in the South West to change their lives for the better by teaching them new skills.

But establishing and developing a culture of lifelong learning at the workplace doesn’t just help individual members of the workforce: it also has a significant impact on the fortunes of the companies and organisations themselves.

The seven case studies in this book are prime examples of how workplace learning can benefit both employers and employees.

A number of examples include work with small companies funded through projects with the Learning and Skills Council and Government Office.

It can be very challenging for small businesses to train their staff as smaller numbers of workers can mean less flexibility. The unions and employers featured here have been determined and creative in order to succeed.

The message for managers is clear: whether you want to increase your productivity, introduce new technology or recruit and retain staff, working with your unions to encourage learning in the workplace will help you achieve your goals.

Helen Cole unionlearn South West Regional Manager

Learning is the business

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» Introduction While union-led workplace learning has expanded enormously over the past ten years, most studies have tended to focus on the individuals whose lives have been changed as a result of learning new skills.

and child poverty, and risks a generation cut off permanently from labour market opportunity.”

This booklet, however, uses anecdotal evidence to look at the benefits companies can reap from getting involved in union-led learning, especially in terms of improving their business performance.

It is these skills levels that unionlearn is committed to tackling. It has made an impressive start, already training more than 18,000 Union Learning Representatives (ULRs), across the country, covering more than 3,000 workplaces and reaching more than 150,000 learners in 2007.

As globalisation opens up world competition for both goods and services, raising the skills levels of the UK workforce has a crucial role to play in improving UK productivity, which has tended to lag behind the country’s main competitors.

The Government-funded Leitch Report published in December 2006 warned that the UK’s skills base was so far behind the rest of the world the country was “running to stand still” in terms of productivity.

Leitch said: “Unless the UK can make its skills base one of its strengths, UK businesses will find it increasingly difficult to compete. As a result of low skills, the UK risks increasing inequality, deprivation

This prognosis is supported by the figures: across the UK 5.2 million adults have literacy skills below GCSE standard and 15 million adults lack Level 1 numeracy skills [the equivalent of a lower grade GCSE].

Companies, too, are getting in on the act, now more keenly than ever measuring and managing performance at the organisational and individual level, with staff training increasingly focusing on developing the key competencies that drive performance.

Of course, the relationship between training and productivity is complex, and simply expanding the training budget will not necessarily lead directly to improved performance; The quality of the training and the culture of learning also need to be taken into account.

In addition, those with lower-level skills are currently the least likely to be trained at work and 25 per cent of adults in the UK believe that “learning is not for the likes of us”.

This is borne out by research showing if you are a graduate, you are three and a half times more likely to have participated in job-related training in the last three months than an employee without qualifications.

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improved quality and reduced error rates n reduced staff turnover and absenteeism n improved internal communication and reporting n enhanced staff recruitment and induction n more effective redeployment of staff n improved learning cultures n increased internal promotion releasing the potential of existing staff. n

Different companies measure these benefits in different ways, but everyone agrees: union-led learning in the workplace helps organisations improve their performance and achieve their strategic goals.

The case studies in this book were chosen to include businesses and enterprises from a range of sectors and counties in the South West region, all of which have a history of joint working between unions and employers to develop workplace learning.

What are you waiting for?

While some use learning to up-skill their workforce to maintain their competitiveness and profitability in the face of strong national and international competition, others use it as a tool to retain and recruit staff.

Whatever the reason, the case studies reveal a wide range of business benefits accompanied the development of unionled workplace learning:

Learning is the business

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» Making the most of learning Even the best bosses have to admit there can sometimes be a degree of frostiness in their relationship with their staff.

Well, any such situation is now thawing at a Bristol company thanks to a shared interest in workplace learning.

Unite steward Clive Burge, who has worked at Horstmann Group for 46 years, smiles as he says: “Wherever you work, most employees love to hate the management. As a steward, when I negotiate with the management or agree on a wage claim, it’s never good enough. No matter how good a company they are.

“However, because of the learning centre, the union can say: ‘Hang on - the company’s done this for you and you’re up to speed with computers’.

“People are going away having learned new skills and it’s because the management have helped out. You can’t just hate them all the time. You have to say thank you some times.”

More than half of Horstmann’s 150 employees have taken advantage of the learning centre (set up after a grant from the Learning Works for All Fund), and of the time donated

ULR Clive Burge at work

by the company (one and half hours per employee per week) to attend classes.

“The courses have improved morale immensely,” beams Clive. “It gives people something extra to look forward to in coming to work.

“It also gives people more skills and as you get more skills, you get more confidence. We’re in an area of Bristol that has limited prospects for employment and development and as a result we feel many employees benefit from our courses.

“During our IT courses we have identified the need to improve some employees’ ‘Skills for Life’. If we can help them with this, it’s got to be good.”

The advantages are also apparent to Engineering and Operations Director Andrew Deeming, who says the company benefits from having a better-skilled, bettermotivated workforce.

“As jobs both on the shop floor and in the offices develop, then IT skills, for example, become more and more

Staff at Horstmanns

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Company Horstmann Group

Business type Manufacturing

Location Bristol

Union Unite

important,” he says. “A lot of our factory processes these days will have computers for test purposes and we don’t want the situation where people are frightened or don’t have the skills to cross-train onto that type of equipment.

Photographs by Julian Monaghan

“It gives employees the confidence to take on other roles within the factory and although we don’t have a problem with absenteeism or sickness, it helps with employee retention because it’s given people something different to look forward to in their working week.

“From a company point of view we were keen to support our employees increasing their skills and expertise. We have a lot of long-serving employees here who haven’t had the opportunity to either go through further education or wouldn’t have the motivation themselves to go out and enrol in what used to be called nightschool.

“ The fact that we can make it available within the working day here has given people their first formal education since they left school, which we see as a positive thing” Andrew Deeming (left) with Clive Burge

“The fact that we can make it available within the working day here has given people their first formal education since they left school, which we see as a positive thing.”

Learning is the business

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» Fired up by new skills At least Andy Batts had a decent excuse for not chalking up a 100 per cent attendance record for his course – he was busy putting out fires!

Andy is one of a dozen retained firefighters based in Cinderford in the Forest of Dean and he, and his colleagues, are used to dropping everything and racing to the station to answer a 999 call.

“The courses give them more confidence, they’ve helped morale and working as a team. It’s winners all round, really”

Despite this, Andy passed the course and his new qualification has encouraged him to think about studying for a degree.

“Learning was forced down my throat at school,” he recalls.

“Here I’m able to learn at my own pace, which makes it much more enjoyable.

“This is the kickstart I needed to get out of my rut . . . to move on up.”

Andy works in Gloucester Prison as a senior prison officer. In his spare time he works as a retained firefighter.

“That’s someone who has another job, but when they’re not working there, they commit to provide cover to fight fires, attend road traffic accidents and other incidents at their local fire station,” he explains.

As a retained firefighter, Andy can access courses at the station organised by the Firing Up Learning for Retained Firefighters project. This initiative is a partnership of the Fire Brigades Union and Gloucestershire and Avon Fire and Rescue services and is supported by unionlearn’s Learning Works for All fund.

“I left school in 1987 and joined the Army straight away,” he says. “I got good academic qualifications and the Army gave me lots of opportunities to learn as well, but I didn’t have computer skills.

“Having completed the course, I know how to do all those monotonous calculations on Excel. It makes it very, very simple to do spreadsheets and graphs and tables and things.

“Most people work with a computer for a living, and I know now what I’m doing both on Excel and Word. I know all the

Firefighters at Cinderford receive their certificates

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Photographs by Eamonn McLoughlin

“I did an IT course over 12 weeks and I suppose I missed two lessons because we had a couple of shouts,” he says.

Company Gloucestershire Fire & Rescue

Business type Emergency Services

Location Forest of Dean

Union Fire Brigades Union

short cuts, know how to make presentations look that much more professional. I’m just saving time all the time.”

One of the beneficiaries of this time saving is Andy’s station manager Gareth Clowes.

“I ain’t too bad at a computer, but it’s moving on so quick,” he says. “I’ve had to keep learning new stuff to help them, but they can help me now.

“I still do spreadsheets myself – they are nearly as good as me now, so it benefits me and the station because they can do it nearly as quick, which makes more time to do other things.

“I’m looking to retire soon, so they need to take on my duties. But it’s not just that because the courses give them more confidence, they’ve helped morale and working as a team. It’s winners all round, really.”

Gareth Clowes (left) with Andy Batts

Learning is the business Andy Batts in his fire engine

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» Poles apart? Not any more ULN UK and their unioin, the GMB

ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages)

For many companies, workplace learning is an incidental benefit they offer to their staff, but for one Wiltshire firm it is much more than that: they would be lost without it.

ULN UK Ltd, a company that packs and wraps British and Continental cheeses in the heart of Wiltshire, employs 108 people at its Westbury plant – some 21 of whom are Polish.

One such worker is 29-year-old Jarek Kuligowski who, when he arrived in the UK, did not speak English.

“It was very hard for me because I didn’t understand lots,” he says. “I spoke using my hands to try and explain what I meant. I was ashamed because I couldn’t communicate with people, the bank or anywhere. I had to ask people for help to translate.”

“The course has transformed my life,” he beams. “I find it easier because I am more accepted by the other workers because I can communicate. Also, the work is easier because I know exactly what to do, because I know all the rules of work.

“And when I go out to the bank or to live in the community, I’m independent because I don’t need to ask for a translator.”

Jarek, his appetite now whetted, has a hunger to learn more and has already signed up for courses in health and safety and IT skills.

“For some people these courses can be really simple,” he says, “but for a migrant worker like me, it can be really hard.”

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Rob Jones (left) and Jarek Kuligowski

“It is really important that all the people who work here, whether they are Polish or otherwise, understand the health, safety and hygiene instructions they are being given”

Photographs by Bob Naylor

Thanks to his union - the GMB – and his employer, he has completed the first part of ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) course and now has a grasp of our language.

Company ULN UK

Business type Food Production

Location Westbury

Union GMB

Above and right: Jarek Kuligowski at work

He is not the only one to see the benefit, as the company’s Health, Safety, Hygiene and Training Officer Rob Jones explains: “We think it is really important that all the people who work here, whether they are Polish or otherwise, understand the health, safety and hygiene instructions they are being given.

“One of the reasons we did the course was so people understood, in English, the instructions they were being given. We started off translating things into Polish but found that very difficult. We did spend quite a lot of time making a little book up in English and Polish, but it never got published for various reasons.”

Unionlearn came to the rescue, through Learning Works for All fund’s support of the GMB ‘Action for Equality’ project which provides courses for migrant workers.

“The biggest effect, from our point of view is instead of not bothering to ask the Polish to do something because when you ask them they don’t understand, you can ask them to do some simple commands and they can understand what you’re saying,” says Rob, gratefully.

“Instead of going to find a translator or forgetting the Polish and asking a third party to do it, you can go straight to the person you want to do the job and get that job done.”

He has noted a difference in morale among workers who now feel more confident in themselves, and also that they can contribute more to the successful running of the business.

“Some people have become more confident in their job,” he says, “and obviously the Polish can see we’re prepared to commit time and a not insignificant amount of money (from an accountant’s point of view, there’s a significant chunk taken out of production) in them. Both parties win.”

Learning is the business

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Gareth Clarke is one of the loudest advocates of workplace learning. As Operations Manager of Argos’s Somerset distribution centre, he lists the benefits the learning centre has provided for the company.

“But quite quickly once we’d got it established, we started having meetings, the whole process started to develop and now it’s down to a lot of hard work the ULRs have put in.

“There are all sorts of positive things for us,” he says. “To start with, we’re always keen to develop the staff in any areas we can, certainly in numeracy and literacy, because there would hopefully be some benefit to their work, and for their home lives as well.

Jim agrees, saying: “One of my hobbies is coaching karate.

I like encouraging people and the idea of people learning on site was one that appealed to me because I could gain some new skills as well.

“It’s also been a great atmosphere builder and morale booster on site as well because it gives them something else they can do at work - it’s not just all work.

“I wouldn’t say we’ve had a drop in absenteeism because that hasn’t ever been a problem for us, but certainly what we’ve seen is more and more people showing an interest in learning, which means they would stay at work rather than go home.”

Gareth’s enthusiasm is all the more rewarding for Jim Daly, Unite ULR and the man whose determination and motivation led to the learning centre being set up, because of his boss’s initial skepticism.

“In the early days it was all new, so we weren’t sure how it would work and how it would fit with the day-to-day operation of the site,” concedes Gareth.

(Right) L-R: unionlearn regional manager Helen Cole, Ian Liddell-Grainger MP, Argos ULR Jim Daly and Sue Mercer from Unite (TGWU Sector)

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“It’s probably only 12 months to now and it’s fully up and running and we’ve had people taking courses and passing them, and we’re looking at doing more and more so it’s been a very enjoyable period.”

“We briefed all the staff on site, took out some space and sat them down and gave them a 30-minute presentation on what the lifelong learning policy was and how we were going to try and roll it out in the workplace.

“Initially we had a bit of a negative response but later on they would come back out of the group on their own and ask questions privately because they didn’t want to speak in front of a big group and ask about the courses.

“Looking back it’s been a definite success.

Looking round on site, people have come up and said they’ve enjoyed the sessions. It’s also improved morale by giving people another reason to attend work.”

Photographs by Tim Gander

» Benefits stack up

Company Argos

Business type Logistics

Location Bridgwater, Somerset

Union Unite

Gareth Clarke (left) with Jim Daly

“There are all sorts of positive things for us. To start with, we’re always keen to develop the staff in any areas we can, certainly in numeracy and literacy, because there would hopefully be some benefit to their work, and for their home lives as well”

Left: Forklift driver Andy Moore is one of many learners to have benefited from courses at work

Learning is the business

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With the Olympics coming to town, bus drivers are planning to go out of their way to welcome tourists.

We should however be able to support foreign drivers with their own development in this regard through the Union Learning project. This obviously should assist the company with staff recruitment and retention.

Staff at Wilts & Dorset Bus Company are looking at learning new languages to greet spectators drawn to the south coast by the Games’s sailing events in Weymouth in 2012.

“At the end of the day we put a lot of emphasis on the driver to develop his own skills. We tell them: ‘If you want to drive a bus, this is what you’ve got to do. This is how far we can take you, and here’s unionlearn which could develop your numeracy and literacy skills’.”

“We’re going to be inundated with tourists and I think it would be a nice idea for the driver to be able to say ‘Hello’ in someone’s language,” ventures driver Brian Lewis. “It would make them feel at home and show how welcoming the English can be.”

Learning languages is also on the agenda for the manager of the Company’s Poole depot - but for a slightly different reason.

“We’re employing people from outside of England to come and drive buses here,” says Depot Manager Murray Goosen.

“English is not their first language and the unionlearn scheme should be able to support our recruitment of these potential drivers.

“Our person specs for driving a bus include a certain standard of understanding and speaking of English.

Left: (L-R) ULRs Kev Sanderson and Brian Lewis with Depot Manager Murray Goosen

Murray also recognises the value of a friendly face.

“We have a huge tourist market down here and one of the things Brian’s bandied around is a Spanish course,” he adds.

“Greeting someone in Spanish while you’re going down to Swanage isn’t a bad thing.”

The problem facing learners at Wilts and Dorset is the transient nature of the trade. With staff working across the two counties and most of them driving about between the two, it’s difficult to pin them down to attend a course.

The problem is being addressed by the arrival of the Learning Works for All - supported RMT Learning Bus - a mobile classroom complete with laptops that can visit every depot, effectively bringing learning to the learners, rather than vice versa.

“We’ve had a few teething problems,” admits Brian, “but we’ve managed to get people on courses, in particular numeracy and literacy.”

“Basic skills are very popular,” says fellow driver and Poole Union Learning Rep Kev Sanderson.

“The vast majority of people here are in their late 30s, early 40s and going back to school times, they were stuck in the corner and forgotten about because they were classed as being thick.

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Photographs by Graham WIlding

» Steering through skills gap

Company Wilts & Dorset Bus Company

Business type Transport services

Location Salisbury and Poole

Union Rail, Maritime & Transport

“It’s only later they found dyslexia came into it and as a result of unionlearn I’ve seen the changes in their lives.

“For example, one of the people here wrote a pantomime last year. And people who couldn’t count would hand over a £10 note to a shop, even if they were buying a 60p paper.

Now they have the confidence to go in and give the exact change.”

“We had one particular guy who was forever paying in short,” Brian chips in. “If someone pays in short here, we all have to pay to make up. This guy approached me and I was able to get him on a numeracy course to address the problem.

“There are people here that suffer with learning difficulties that haven’t been identified; the unionlearn process should go a long way to identifying things like that”

Brian Lewis in his cab

That helped him, so that’s his morale raised.”

Murray agrees, saying confidence improves alongside morale - two factors that contribute to the company’s success.

“There are people here that suffer with learning difficulties that haven’t been identified; the unionlearn process should go a long way to identifying things like that,” he says.

“You’re then able to action a plan to improve a person’s ability to function within the company. Our company just doesn’t run buses. We require drivers that are on top of PR, that are customer-focused, can count, add up, sort out our revenue and advocate the company while they’re out on the road.

“Every aspect of our business goes through that bus, so having new skills is going to improve everybody’s confidence in dealing with these situations, at the same time as benefiting the company.”

Learning is the business

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» Partnership made in Devon The seventeen-year-old is working as an usher at the Princess Theatre in Torquay, and dreams of a career in the industry. At the moment he’s a jack-of-all-trades: as well as selling programmes and ice creams to punters, he checks their tickets, shows them to their seats, answers their queries and solves their problems.

But he wants more. He plans to do a degree, but before then he has enrolled on a BECTU-organised course that will teach him basic sound and lighting skills.

“I’m on the course because I’m interested in the technical side of things and because I’d like to go into theatre as a future career,” he says. “The course will give me a basic understanding of how theatre works in an actual theatre, compared to what I’m used to in a smaller school venue.”

“With working time regulations, you can’t keep paying staff to do overtime. You have to rotate them, which is why we need more of them.

“If they’ve passed the course, not only do I know they’re qualified, but I know what they’re like to work with, which is a big advantage to them – and to me because it saves me having to spend money advertising for their position and training new recruits.

“When the courses are finished, we’ll have built up a database of skilled people in Devon and Cornwall, so when there’s a bigger show and we need more crew, they’re the people we phone first.”

The course in Torquay is one of several basic level courses aimed at giving people a chance to make a career in the theatre.

“They’re all theatre people but they’re all just starting,” Martin explains. “They’ve been working one or two years, they come in on the big shows just to move scenery or move boxes, they haven’t done Jonathan Voogts selling programmes outside the Princess Theatre any lighting or any sound, so they’re very limited in what they can do.

His short-term aim is to gain valuable experience working in the theatre during the pantomime season – a definite “The course teaches them a step further so, for example, possibility since ULR Martin Roberts, who organised the today’s course is sound, so when they finish they can do course, is the same Martin Roberts who, as the theatre’s the sound for a conference, the informal chat arenas or Chief Technician, employs all the lighting and sound staff. anything that has taped music in.

“Being on the course won’t have done any of them any harm,” says Martin. “I’ll be looking at using some of them after they’ve qualified because I need a bigger skill base.

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“They can set a sound system up so they can be more flexible, working as part of the sound team on a bigger show, which makes them more employable.

Photographs by Tony Carney

Jonathan Voogts looks forward to the day when he’s no longer selling theatre programmes.

Company Princess Theatre

Business type Entertainment

Location Torquay

Union Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph & Theatre union

“They know what they’re

doing before they start, they know where things are, stuff like that. It makes them more employable.”

“They’ll be able to help set up the sound for the panto, checking radio mics which takes a lot of pressure off the soundman.”

Are custard pies an occupational hazard for sound engineers during the panto season?

“No,” laughs Martin, “but sweat is. Not very glamourous, is it? They know to dry the mic out, to take the head off and to wipe the mic and then get it going again. You haven’t got time to be drying the mic in a scene change, so they’ll probably swap it. It all helps the smooth-running of a show.”

That’s something Jonathan hopes to be doing not far from now.

“I’m hoping to get a job backstage during the winter,” he says. “It will give me more experience and boost my CV, which will help me when I try to get a job in the future.”

The ‘Technical Workshops in Theatre’ project is a partnership of BECTU and six south west theatres. It is supported by the Learning Works for All fund.

Martin Roberts and Jonathan in the sound box

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» Making cowboys history Martin Fowler (L) and Colin Postlethwaite on site

Some people still think of Cornwall as the Wild West. Well, they’ll have to think again because, on the county’s building sites at least, cowboys are on the way out.

“We used to get people walking off the street onto a building site, but that doesn’t happen any more,” says Colin Postlethwaite, site manager for Rok in Redruth. “They have to have a basic knowledge when they start. The old time builders who’d say: ‘We’re not going to wear the safety helmet, we’re not going to do this or that ...’, they’ve gone from the trade now.”

New legislation means all construction workers must have at least basic qualifications before they are allowed on site – a move that benefits both the builders themselves, and the contractors.

“There’s a general shortage of labour in the building trade,” says Colin, “so any schemes like unionlearn that get people in are a Godsend really. It’s been recognised for a long time that there’s a skills shortage, and this is a good way to get people into the trade.”

The site of the former hospital in Redruth is being turned into apartments and houses, and Colin is in charge of 60 tradesmen, ranging from groundworkers and masons, through plumbers and carpenters to electricians and tilers - the whole gamut of trades.

Unionlearn makes his job a lot easier because he can be sure his workers have at least certain skills when they turn up.

“They need to have a certain level of aptitude to be able to work on one of our sites,” he says. “They need NVQs to work here and they’re being taught the skills on site or in college. It’s Catch 22. If they haven’t got the skills, they can’t come on site to do the work, so what Graham Harris, our training consultant and UCATT

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Company ROK

Business type Construction

Location Redruth

Union Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians

union learning representative, is doing is allowing them to come on site, with their NVQs and allowing them to progress their skills further.

“On site they’re working with experienced guys. The first thing we do with the induction is check their qualifications.

Health and safety is a key aspect.

Colin Postlethwaite in his office “Every person on site now, with the new legislation that’s come in, is responsible for their own actions. They can now be prosecuted if they breach Health & Safety rules, so a grounding in H & S is absolutely essential.

It makes it a lot safer here for everyone, they are responsible for what they’re doing and for watching out what other people are doing. They are encouraged to report it.”

One such worker is Martin Fowler, who is known on site by his nickname, Geordie. (“For obvious reasons,” he says in a broad North Eastern accent.)

He’s worked in the trade for fourteen years and has recently completed a NVQ Level Two in Construction and Groundworks.

Colin is equally pleased. “Financially it makes sense too because if we’ve got decent tradesmen on site it’s boosting production. The quality of work is better, it’s faster, the clients are happier. It’s benefits all round really.”

The ‘Union Learning in Cornish Construction’ project is led

by UCATT and supported by unionlearn’s ‘Learning Works for All’ fund.

Learning is the business

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Photographs by Tony Carney

“New legislation means all construction workers must have at least basic qualifications before they are allowed on site”

“It’s given me some helpful hints, clarified a few things,” he states. “I knew the basics, like the construction side of it, but the health and safety side of it was helpful because it’s taught me the law. I wouldn’t say it’s made my job any easier, but it’s made me more employable. It’s definitely worth doing.”

“The courses give them more confidence, they’ve helped morale and working as a team. It’s winners all round, really”

This and other unionlearn publications are available from the unionlearn website, with union learning updates and further case studies.

www.unionlearn.org.uk/southwest unionlearn, South West TUC Church House, Church Road Bristol BS34 7BD 0117 9470521 unionlearnsouthwest@tuc.org.uk Written and edited by Tim Lezard (lezard@elmtreecottages.co.uk) Designed by Rumba (rumbadesign.co.uk) Printed on recycled paper containing 70% post-consumer waste Published in 2007

Unionlearn’s ‘Learning Works for All’ fund is supported by the South West of England Regional Development Agency.

All TUC publications may be made available for dyslexic or visually impaired readers, on request, in an agreed electronic format or in accessible formats such as Braille, audio tape and large print, at no extra cost. Contact the South West TUC on 0117 947 0521.