A free training program from Navitas Skilled Futures is helping improve communication skills, confidence and retention of vital company staff resources in workplaces across the hospitality, tourism and healthcare sectors.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, around three million working age Australians have low literacy and/or numeracy skills and are at high risk of poor employment outcomes. Foundation Skills for Your Future is a free government-funded program aimed at combating this issue by encouraging employers, managers and HR teams across Australia to upskill their staff by improving their language, literacy, numeracy and digital skills.
Industry-specific workplace training is developed in conjunction with employers to deliver bespoke programs that meet individual learning and development needs. The average length of training program is three months with an average class size of 15 people.
Navitas Skilled Futures Executive General Manager, Michael Cox, said: “Once a business approaches us for training, our team works closely with managers to identify gaps in their employees’ skill set. This allows us to design and deliver a tailored program to improve workforce capability and productivity. The outcome for employees is greater confidence and job satisfaction, which in turn is a competitive advantage for businesses.”
As a young refugee working on an Australian construction site, Hedayat Osyan learned first-hand how having limited communication and digital skills could be a fast path to exploitation and hopelessness. Many years later, he didn’t hesitate to engage Navitas Skilled Futures to upskill workers at his Sydney social enterprise, CommUnity Construction.
“After this program [my workers] became more engaged; they wanted to speak with people, to help the business and have more involvement. It led to a happier and safer workplace with employees who felt more connected, could communicate better with each other, and who had a better understanding of their role and business outcomes,” said Hedayat.
Since participating in the program, CommUnity Construction has raised its profile, seen an increase in referrals and grown its business. Improved employee skills have enabled the business to expand its service offerings and reach. Some staff members have even started their own business. For more on Hedayat’s story, READ or WATCH.
Employers are encouraged to contribute to the program by giving employees time during work hours to complete the training. Programs can also be delivered onsite or online and are accredited or non-accredited up to the Certificate II level.
To be eligible, participants must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident aged 15 years and over, have left secondary school education, be employed (or recently unemployed within the past nine months) and not registered with an Australian Government employment service provider.