Employers told to tackle business-critical basic skills instead of inappropriate behaviour

Employers have been told by the government that they need to do more to stamp out poor spelling and grammar at work.

The Department for Education and Skills published a survey that showed four in 10 employers policed flirting and gum chewing more actively than bad spelling.

Skills minister Phil Hope said: “Employers have a vital role to play in encouraging and supporting staff to brush up their skills.

“They must do more to police poor spelling and grammar in the workplace as this is the first step in tackling the problem and raising standards.

“Concerns around the level of reading, writing and maths skills should be right up there with managing absence and staff morale.”

Half of employers complained that one in four job applications contained errors, such as candidates mixing up ‘their’, ‘they’re’ and ‘there’.

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One in five of employers said they saw ‘ain’t’ and ‘gonna’ increasingly appearing in application forms.