Microsoft Office training needed by many staff
Nearly everyone in Federal service uses Microsoft Office daily, particularly Word and Excel. For those not proficient in these applications, a task that should take minutes ends up taking hours (e.g., creating a bulleted list, adding a header or footer or, maddeningly, changing the line spacing of a document). When new versions of the software come along, people get even LESS productive if retraining is not available. ...more »
Nearly everyone in Federal service uses Microsoft Office daily, particularly Word and Excel. For those not proficient in these applications, a task that should take minutes ends up taking hours (e.g., creating a bulleted list, adding a header or footer or, maddeningly, changing the line spacing of a document). When new versions of the software come along, people get even LESS productive if retraining is not available.
I propose the creation of a pre-test for these commonly-used applications. If the employee cannot pass the test, they are required to take the training. We cannot afford to have people wasting hours a day simply because they are not familiar with the most basic computer skills. Also, judging whether they are competent should NOT be left to the individual.
Aside from becoming more productive, trained staff members will gain confidence in their abilities. This is the hidden benefit of education.
This same need for training applies to any of the email packages that Federal employees might be using. Again, hours are wasted trying to figure out how to create mailing lists, how to encrypt a message, how to archive messages, etc. Required training is the answer.
« less full details »