Fulton Hogan literacy graduates to be celebrated

Joint media release
Tuesday 27 July, 2010

Fulton Hogan literacy graduates to be celebrated today

Fulton Hogan will celebrate the learning achievement of eight employees at its Petone office today.

Eight operational employees will graduate from a pilot workplace literacy programme that has successfully boosted their reading, writing, communication and maths skills.

“We’re delighted to recognise the achievements of our staff. The results are great for them as individuals and it’s great for Fulton Hogan as an organisation,” says General Manager for the Central Region, Bill Caradus.

Fulton Hogan’s data shows that all of the employees made significant gains in workplace reading, writing, maths and communication skills.

“In just six months, their skill level with things like health and safety documentation has really improved – something we consider to be vital in our workplace. And it’s more than just ‘paperwork’ improvements” said Caradus, “they’re generally much more confident overall”.

The graduation ceremony comes at the end of a six-month pilot programme (called Base Course), which paid employees to attend tutoring on site at their workplace for a total of 40 hours. A successful pilot programme is also being offered in the Auckland region too.

Like Fulton Hogan, a range of New Zealand companies are boosting the literacy skills of their staff through training. Last month the Department of Labour launched the Skills Highway website to raise the profile of workplace literacy training and its benefits for businesses.

“Fulton Hogan’s success is yet another excellent example of a Kiwi business making promising inroads into their workforce’s poor adult literacy rates. We congratulate the managers and employees who’re making it happen and encourage others to follow their lead,” said Benedikte Jensen, Head of Labour Market Information at the Department of Labour.

Background

The graduation ceremony will be held at 3.30pm at the Fulton Hogan offices located at 36-38 Marine Parade, Wellington. Around 40 people, including graduates, their families, managers, government and education sector representatives are expected to attend.

Research shows about four in every ten New Zealand employees have difficulties with reading, maths. New Zealand’s poor adult literacy rates have long been considered a serious issue that costs business through accidents and injuries, high wastage, mistakes, missed deadlines and low productivity.

Find out more about workplace literacy training by visiting the Skills Highway website: www.skillshighway.govt.nz

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