Quarter of sector’s staff ‘lack basic skills’

04 June 2008

One-quarter of transport sector organisations have staff who lack basic skills in numeracy, literacy and communication, according to a new survey.

Sixty-four per cent of 1,000 employees and employers in bus, rail, taxi and coach companies, and transport planning firms – in a survey carried out for GoSkills, the sector skills council – believed staff members lacking basic skills were hindering productivity.

Twenty-six per cent of transport planning companies had staff without basic skills, but GoSkills stressed the sample of transport planners interviewed was relatively small – 35 individuals.

Seventy per cent of respondents to the survey carried out by ORC International claimed that managers and supervisors in their organisations needed basic skills ‘to a great extent’. Basic IT was the biggest skill problem among all roles.

Forty-one per cent of respondents claimed that managers in their organisations lacked basic IT skills. And 36% needed to improve their communication skills. But the survey suggested that many companies were not providing training to improve basic skills. Almost one-third of individuals said their organisations did not train in numeracy, literacy, basic IT or communication skills, with lack of money or time frequently stated as the reasons.

Transport planners taking part were the most likely to cite ‘lack of time’ as a barrier to addressing the need for basic skills. Matthew Glanville, research manager at GoSkills, told Surveyor: ‘While there has been anecdotal evidence of individuals in the sector lacking basic skills, this survey has confirmed the scale of the problem, and underlined the need for training.

‘You can see people waiting for others to help them fill in paperwork, or use a computer program, which means things take longer than they should.’ Given the sample size for transport planners, the findings for that part of the sector were not conclusive, he stressed. However, the results ‘chimed with anecdotal evidence that there’s a need to improve transport planners’ communication skills’.

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Quarter of sector’s staff ‘lack basic skills’

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