Lack of life skills shocks bosses

Many new workers lack basic literacy, life and personal skills, and often have a poor work attitude, according to a survey of North Shore businesses.

Employers complained to Massey University researchers about the general "laidback" attitude of workers and the approach of "no problem, mate" and "taking without giving anything back".

Many of the 120 employers interviewed said the literacy of new workers was "shocking".

One in three employers said they were dissatisfied with the competency of school-leavers. University and polytech graduates also drew complaints from 12 per cent of bosses.

Enterprise North Shore, which commissioned the study, said it showed a big task lay ahead in remedying a skills shortage that was constraining business growth.

Agency chief executive Terry Hoskins said: "These were our five sunrise industry sectors and it shows school kids don't know what to train for and businesses don't know how to explain their needs to the education establishments."

The next step, said Mr Hoskins, was to improve the link between education providers and business and also parents of teenagers on the North Shore, "to get them to take the right courses so business can employ them straight away".

The research was reported to the North Shore City Council's management committee this week.

Committee chairman Gary Holmes said there was concern that North Shore people had to travel to the Manukau Technical Institute for trades training.

Building a knowledge economy was a key part of the council's new economic development strategy, he said, and the report had termed the city one of the most skilled and highly qualified in New Zealand.

One of the report's authors, social science professor Paul Spoonley, said employer needs had also been tracked in Waitakere and Rodney, with the same results.

"There is a high degree of employer frustration at a lack of generic skills ... they are not job-specific, they are attitude towards work, appearance, work habits and life and communication skills.

"The other side is that employer expectations have gone up ... this is a service economy now."

More than half of the employers surveyed had reservations about the abilities of graduates.

Fewer than a quarter of employers felt that schools and universities were giving students the skills they needed.

Only 29 per cent thought polytech graduates were adequately trained.

Professor Spoonley said more employers were resorting to in-house training because of frustration with the result from education providers.

A national survey of employees aged 18 to 35 showed the best training was that done by employers.

Private training and industry training organisations received a better report card.

Tertiary Education Commission acting chief executive Susan Shipley said the commission was working closely with education providers to improve quality and relevance.

"There is now a much greater emphasis on meeting the needs of the economy and greater productivity."

Auckland private education provider Workbase runs 50 literacy programmes for companies ranging from plastics to food processing.

Workbase chief executive Katherine Percy said schools would always struggle to serve immediate business needs.

"Businesses need to revise their views about where staff are taught for their particular work processes."