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Developing Work Skills Helps Companies & Employees

Anyone entering the work force needs to have certain key work skills in order to be successful. No matter what industry you plan to enter, businesses, hospitals, schools and government offices alike are all looking for particular elements in their perspective employees. 

Developing work skills has a positive impact on not only the performance of the organization, but also on the attitudes and behavior of employees. Understanding how to improve your own personal work skills and developing the work skills of your employees will create a more energetic, conscientious work environment in which everyone will be more efficient and productive.

Essential Work Skills
Basic work skills include a positive attitude toward change and a willingness and ability to learn throughout one's entire life. The ability to build and work in teams is also an important work skill. Beyond these, anyone seeking to develop their work skills needs to be able to:

• act logically to solve problems and make decisions 
• communicate effectively 
• think critically
• understand basic mathematics, numerical charts and tables
• understand and use documents, such as safety instructions, assembly directions, maps, etc.
• use computers, technology, tools and information systems effectively
• write in a clear, cogent and persuasive manner in order to complete documents, such as reports, letters, equipment manuals, etc.

Literacy Work Skills
Developing work skills requires developing and continually fine-tuning your literacy. Literate individuals can understand, create and use a variety of information in everyday activities at home, work and in their communities. In fact, literacy is such an essential work skill that those who are deficient in their abilities to read, write and communicate tend to have a significantly harder time getting jobs. There are three kinds of literacy essential to developing work skills:

• Document literacy refers to the ability to locate and use information contained in various formats, including job applications, payroll forms, transportation schedules, maps, tables and graphs.
• Prose literacy refers to the ability to understand and use information from texts, including editorials, news stories, business communication, poems and fiction.
• Quantitative Literacy refers to the ability to work with numbers and do quantitative tasks, such as balancing a checkbook or determining interest on a loan.

Developing Your Employees' Work Skills
Encouraging your employees to improve their work skills will enhance the productivity of your business or organization. You can enhance your employees' professional abilities by implementing a workplace education program, holding regular seminars and bringing in experts to train employees. Putting out some money to develop employee work skills is a short-term cost with long-term financial benefits. State or federal government funding may also be available for developing employee work skills.

Workplace education programs can focus on basic work skills, literacy work skills or even technical work skills. You can tailor your work skills development program to fit the needs of your organization. Consider partnering with community colleges or training professionals, as each will have the most up-to-date information.

Employees: How to Improve Your Work Skills
If your company doesn't offer ways to enhance your professional abilities, take matters into your own hands and do it yourself. Not only will this make you more marketable as a potential employee, but it can also help you advance in your current industry, potentially helping you get a promotion or raise. If your goal is developing work skills relevant to your current job, ask your supervisor or human resources department about any training programs available or the possibility of starting such programs.

Consider developing your work skills by taking classes at a local community or professional college. Sometimes local community centers offer free classes to improve literacy and develop other work skills. A fast, easy and free way of developing your technical and quantitative work skills is by reading online tutorials. You may even consider getting a mentor, an expert who you respect in the industry you plan to or already work in, to advise and train you as you refine and cultivate your professional abilities.