Learning reps have a vital role to perform

Jun 18 2007 By Kevin Rowan, The Journal

There is an emerging consensus that the employers of the future are those that don't just focus on pay as the main reward for working, as important as that will be, but that also offer a range of "softer" benefits.

From a good quality work environment to flexible working opportunities, employers need to consider the welfare of people in work.

In this world where the perception is that there is "no job for life", workers are increasingly looking at opportunities to develop their skills and qualifications.

Last week's launch of the 150 companies nationally who have signed up to the `skills pledge' is a welcome development in the strong focus the current government have given to boosting skills in recent years. The pledge is a public commitment to encourage and enable all workers in a company to seek to achieve a first level 2 qualification (the equivalent of 5 GCSE O-levels).

While there has been year-on-year improvement in the success rates of school leavers, many people in work do not have this fundamental building block for learning and development progression.

For many workers in this position, the thought of formal learning and qualifications is an anathema, put off by bad learning experiences in the past or inadequate support for their personal learning needs.

Union Learning Reps have played a tremendous role in enabling many of these individuals to re-access learning and to literally transform their lives, boosting their confidence and self-esteem through developing their skills and gaining qualifications. It is vital that employers, unions and public policy seek to support efforts to reach these workers who are vulnerable as the number of low skilled jobs will continue to decline in our economy.

The structure of the labour market in the region is changing relatively rapidly and in the right way, toward a higher skilled, more dynamic labour market. In this new economy access to individual skills development will become as important as pay, pensions and the amount of annual leave on offer.

Employers seeking to attract the best staff will need to demonstrate their intention to continuously invest in those staff.

The skills pledge is an important move to address the challenge for those workers in the weakest position on the skills ladder, the threat of compulsion should hopefully spur on the two thirds of employers who currently don't invest in developing their staff.

Perhaps the key feature of the pledge though is to signal the government's necessary aspiration to continue to drive toward establishing a skills culture in the UK.

This is the first key action in the implementation of the Leitch Review, which sets high targets not just for level 2 skills, but for increases in skills at all levels.

To achieve this we need all of the partners listed above to commit enabling workers and employers to value skills and to access opportunities to develop them not just at first level 2, but throughout their working lives.

Kevin Rowan is regional secretary of the Northern TUC.