Essential Skills - National Adult Literacy Database
Essential Skills - National Adult Literacy Database
Essential Skills - National Adult Literacy Database
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<strong>Essential</strong> <strong>Skills</strong> and the Northern Oil and Gas Workforce Final Report and Resource Guide<br />
Day 2 SESSION 4:<br />
JOB DESIGN<br />
Presenters: Rob Despins (Standard Aero)<br />
Overview<br />
When training programs have been completed and the graduates are ready to go to work,<br />
they have a collection of skills (essential and technical) that are readily available both to<br />
them and to the employer. Unfortunately, research shows that many people who enter the<br />
workforce with numerous available skills, no longer have some of those skills a few years<br />
later. This is often a direct result of being employed in jobs that do not fully utilize their<br />
potential, a poorly designed job.<br />
Currently there is a great deal of concern in all of Canada, including the north, around the<br />
shortage of skilled labour. The Canadian labour force is predicted to experience shortages<br />
due to greater worker demand than worker availability and skill demands that cannot be met<br />
by the existing workforce. There are a number of approaches that can be utilized to combat<br />
skills shortages. <strong>Skills</strong> can be upgraded, emigration reduced and immigration increased and,<br />
of increasing interest to employers and workers, workplace and human resource<br />
management patterns can be revised. This is where ideas on job design can be<br />
incorporated.<br />
Job design refers to the way work is organized. How a job is designed has a major effect on<br />
the retention of workers’ skills once they enter the workplace, degree of job satisfaction,<br />
worker retention and productivity. Jobs may be organized by task or by skill sets. Organizing<br />
by task narrows the scope of the skills required and may not utilize an individual’s full<br />
potential. Organizing jobs by skill set enriches the work experience by creating opportunities<br />
for individual achievement and recognition by broadening the scope of the skills required<br />
and increasing responsibility and accountability.<br />
Strong essential skills are critical to worker success in enriched jobs. Designing jobs to<br />
include elements of team work, communication and thinking skills including critical thinking,<br />
problem solving and decision making is of paramount importance for the maintaining<br />
essential skills of workers.<br />
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