Emerging and transformative technologies such as those explored through TechUK’s Unleashing Innovation campaign have the potential to revolutionise the business world. However, this can only happen if businesses have a workforce equipped with the skills to use these tools effectively.
Experis has found that 60% of UK businesses are concerned about the lack of expertise in their organisation. Such expertise comprises technical engineering skills (a definition adapted from Glassdoor) which can include data analysis, quality control, robotics, programming, cyber security, and cloud.
And yet a Digit report found that for nearly 60% of employers, none of their employees had received formal digital skills training in the past 12 months. That is an incredibly sad statistic considering research suggests that 88% of leaders who received digital training in the last year said their organisation experienced growth compared to 49% who did not. Coincidence? I think not. Access to flexible training and lifelong learning will be critical for a dynamic, innovative future.
As TechUK highlighted in our Making AI work for Britain report, a renewed focus on skills is needed to drive AI uptake and minimise disruption – and the same steps are needed for transformative technologies. While government has a big role in reforming our skills system, businesses also have a part to play to support the current and future workforce.
Industry is already implementing three core actions to drive digital skills development:
Invest in flexible learning and development
Flexible and accessible learning opportunities are key to closing the skills gaps of today and tomorrow. Despite 44% of workers’ core skills expected to change in the next five years, there is a lack of corresponding investment in the training and upskilling of the workforce. The Open University also found only half of SMEs had plans to address digital skills gaps within 12 months, with time and cost the key barriers to investment in upskilling.
For our collective success, we need to equip our young people with the resources and experiences essential to nurturing their talents Nimmi Patel, TechUK
Employers are looking into training such as short-modular courses, apprenticeships, bootcamps, online training courses and certification, which help the existing workforce upskill in areas key for transformative tech, such as data analytics and cyber security.
Courses do not have to be time intensive – for example, Infosys Springboard is a free online platform powered by global tech firm Infosys that offers guided training in technology and curated content, leveraging quality content from leading universities across the world.
TechUK was proud to input into the government’s Skills Toolkit which signposts to free courses for people to upskill themselves. The courses have already been selected on the advice of experts and leading employers, including TechUK, to make sure they meet the needs of business. TechUK members such as Accenture, AWS, Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Cisco and partner Institute of Coding have been showcased.
Businesses already offer a wide variety of online and in-person training, from basic digital skills right through to courses on the latest technological developments. Now we need to leverage the training opportunities and solutions that already exist.
Champion partnerships and collaboration
As much as companies would like to believe they are unique, the skills challenge they face is often similar to that of other organisations in their industry. One way to combat this is through partnerships and collaborations, which can facilitate the sharing of resources and expertise.
TechUK is a signatory of FutureDotNow, whose goal is to unite business to close the essential digital skills gap in the UK workforce. They lead a coalition of more than 200 leading organisations from across all business sectors with a collective reach of many millions and have resources and actions to collectively close skills gaps.
Another great collaboration between industry is the UK Cyber Security Council, which TechUK sits on, which has created tools to support someone looking to navigate a career or upskill in cyber security in partnership with organisations who want to raise awareness of the profession to diverse audiences. There are also resources to look at managing cyber security talent for human resources managers who need to define or refine roles, tasks, and skills in an ever-evolving profession.
Partnerships with universities can also ensure a steady pipeline of graduates with the relevant skills. Accenture has partnered with the University of Birmingham to create a unique postgraduate degree, an MSc in responsible data science, and offers paid work experience to students on the course. A partnership that combines the innovation of tech companies with the best practices of universities can open the industry up to under-represented groups and lead to creative approaches to integrating new skills.
For our collective success, we need to equip our young people with the resources and experiences essential to nurturing their talents. We want to build up graduates who enter the workforce to have hands-on experience using transformative tech and partnerships are a way to do that.
Promote a learning culture
The only way employees will be willing to learn skills to engage with emerging and transformative technologies is if companies foster a workplace culture that values learning and development. That starts at the top.
PwC’s 2024 UK workforce hopes and fears survey found that 40% of employees do not understand why changes need to happen at all. As senior leaders are looking to leverage tech in the workplace, it’s clear the message needs to filter down to inform colleagues of the reason for upskilling and what opportunities such training could lead to in the future.
Research for the Department for Education identified that “time” was the most commonly cited barrier to engaging in learning, selected by 52% of respondents. Employers must give their staff time to train.
In 2021, the UK government launched a campaign which aimed to boost the nation’s skills and job prospects by inspiring people to set aside just one hour a week for online learning. Unfortunately, not many businesses heard about this campaign, but TechUK remains keen to champion the message and calls for employers to encourage their staff to set aside an hour a week for training.
As TechUK’s Unleashing Innovation campaign continues to explore many of the challenges and opportunities outlined above, it’s clear that strong partnerships with several key sectors and TechUK programmes will be essential. I’d encourage you to get involved in shaping and delivering this activity.
