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Identify the Benefits

Municipal learning programs across Canada report significant benefits to participants, unions, management, and the corporation.

What are the benefits to participants?

• Increased self-confidence and self-esteem at work and at home
• More opportunities for promotion and transfers
• Educational and training achievements, including GED and job certifications
• Improved written and oral communication skills for work and home
• Better equipped to participate in training and to broaden range of skills
• Increased job enjoyment

What are the benefits to labour?

• Increased independence and confidence to participate in union activities; more access for members with English as their second language
• Better jobs; higher salaries
• More likely and better equipped to participate in union education programs
• More understanding and use of collective agreements
• More strategies and skills to resolve workplace issues
• Improved relations between union and management

What are the benefits to management?

• Increased team participation; improved overall job performance
• Increased opportunities for advancement from within; better succession planning
• Greater adaptability to meet workplace change and new requirements
• Improved customer service; strategies and skills to resolve workplace problems
• Less supervision
• Fewer errors and a higher rate of job completion
• Improved health and safety on the job
• A wider skills repertoire to meet workplace change, retooling, and reorganization
• Improved relations in the workplace, and between union and management

How does workplace learning affect municipal corporations?

• Support for a culture of lifelong learning within the corporate policy
• Recognition that the benefits of workplace learning extend beyond the workplace to home and community life
• Incorporation of workplace literacies in the municipality’s overall training development plans and budgets
• Use of clear language for both internal and external communications
• Implementation of policies that support employee development in such areas as pay equity, equal opportunity, wellness programs, training, and education.