Employers go back to basics

Spokane Teachers Credit Union decided it needed a way to ensure that its tellers knew their math. Starting this summer, the credit union began testing new workers on their knowledge of basic interest, percentages and whether they could solve problems quickly.

That test, developed by a national tellers’ association, is the first time the credit union has used a mechanism to confirm that its workers have a skill that used to be taken for granted.

“It’s not like you can’t fix the problem (of weak math or reading),” said STCU Chief Executive Steve Dahlstrom. “But in an increasingly competitive environment, you’re not going to hire people who don’t have those strong basic skills.”

Nationwide and across the state, companies like STCU are taking extra steps to ensure they hire workers with strong basic skills and who display “worker readiness” –– a buzzword meaning a solid work ethic and willingness to take on new tasks.

Labor unions and trade apprenticeship programs have added their own safeguards when looking at candidates.

Spokane Local 73 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers won’t accept anyone into its apprentice program without a high school diploma or GED. Other unions have done the same.

The problem of workers not having basic reading, writing and math skills is one of the most stubborn issues state officials face today, said Ellen O’Brien Saunders, executive director of the Washington State Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board in Olympia.

“It’s a tenacious problem that we haven’t solved yet,” Saunders said recently during a workforce conference in Spokane.

Saunders said educators, state officials and businesses need to collaborate to cut the number of workers who don’t have those basic skills.

In 1992, a Washington survey found that about 11 percent of the state’s adults were illiterate – about 520,000 people at that time.

Saunders said she hasn’t seen a recent number but fears the state’s percentage of illiterate adults hasn’t shrunk since then. Some of the problem is tied to poverty, and some is due to students losing interest in learning.

“If we want strong communities, we have to do something about that,” said Saunders.

Along with a lack of basic skills, surveys have found a gap in worker readiness.

A 2004 statewide survey of employers who said they were having trouble finding good workers asked which skills were most lacking. The most-cited need, mentioned by 91 percent of 1,350 companies responding, was for workers with “occupation-specific” skills. The next most common skills needed were problem-solving, mentioned by 87 percent of those surveyed; communication (83 percent); and adaptability to change (79 percent).

The basic skills of writing, math and reading were cited by 63, 62 and 38 percent of companies, respectively.

Roger Ingbretsen, a Spokane workforce consultant and trainer, said some of the problem falls within the K-12 curriculum. He and others say that schools pay the most attention to students who are struggling and students who are college-bound. The large middle group, who probably won’t go to college, are not being guided toward technical and vocational careers, Ingbretsen said.

Dahlstrom, who along with Ingbretsen serves on the Spokane Area Workforce Development Council, agreed.

“We have a Running Start program (that helps) college-bound high school students get ready and move faster toward college. But we don’t have anything like that for those who are not going to college,” Dahlstrom said.

“We need to help those students get practical work experience and find good career counseling. What if I want to become a plumber? Where do I go to get a jump-start (in high school) toward that job?” he said.

Saunders, from the state Workforce Training and Coordinating Board, said the solution won’t be easy.

“To get at the problem we have to focus both on literacy and on real skills training,” she said. But that approach can be expensive because it involves training in two different areas – basic skills and occupational readiness.

Such a dual focus has been found to deliver “more bang for the buck,” Saunders said, adding, “it’s a very big buck” when measured against other state priorities.

Unless it becomes a larger priority, the problem won’t go away, Saunders said.