Strategic Improvement of Workplace Competence II: The Economics of Competence

The economics of competence—-and incompetence—-need to be understood if managers are to make prudent business decisions about improving workplace competence. I present a rationale for a typical, current cost–of–incompe–tence estimate (33% of payroll), strategies for estimating current cost–of–in–competence for a specific plant, operation, or work group, and a practical strategy for improving workplace competence. The strategy uses low–cost human performance technology to enable everyone from top managers to entry level workers to learn new knowledge, skills, and attitudes while they achieve early productivity gains that pay for later initiatives.