The Industry Training Federation (ITF) and the Department of Labour (DoL) have embarked on a joint venture aimed at improving the ability of Industry Training Organisations to assist workplaces to raise their productivity. The starting point of this project is that the assumption that the development and effective utilisation of skills in New Zealand workplaces is an important component in improving productivity.
This report is the first output from this project. The first section consists of the findings from a literature scan that explores the links between skills, their application, and productivity. The second outlines the experiences of several manufacturing ITOs that have expanded their agenda and services to clients in ways that position their arranging training role as only one of several elements that need to be effectively applied to improve business performance.