Bridging the digital skills gap

 

Nadeem Malik at Software AG argues that a more flexible approach to recruitment will help companies find and develop the digital talent they need

 

The digitisation of services has been a defining feature of the early 21^st century. As the second biggest exporter of services in the world, it’s crucial that UK companies, from banking to consulting, possess the digital skills to continue this progress.

 

As the government itself has said, “the UK’s economic future, jobs, wage levels, prosperity, national security, cost of living, productivity, ability to compete globally and our geo-political standing in the world are all reliant on continued and growing success in digital technology”.

 

But there is a deficit. Research released in October claims that a lack of digital skills is costing workers £5.69 billion in additional earnings, and the UK economy £12.8 billion altogether.

 

It’s particularly bad news for businesses. Nearly four in five (78%) organisations are seeing reduced output, profitability, and growth due to a digital talent shortfall.

 

It’s also intensifying workloads for those who do have the skills, leaving more than a third of young tech workers (35%) unhappy in their role and over half (54%) considering a career change.

 

It does seem that conventional routes to hiring digital skills, like recruiting those with STEM qualifications, won’t do. The existing talent pool isn’t big enough to fill the 870,000 tech and digital job vacancies we’ve seen this year alone.

 

Companies need to find new, creative ways to hire and remain competitive in the talent wars.

 

Recruit through other avenues

The first step is to broaden the parameters of what you’re looking for and recruit candidates from further afield. Most companies, particularly in the tech sphere, often have blinkers for the types of people or skills that they are looking for. As a result, the competition for these specific profiles is fierce.

 

A wider range of skills and experience could include a transferable knowledge of your company that internal candidates may have; knowledge of specific job roles that someone from outside of a tech background may possess; or transferable skills that someone without the formal education/experience background may have.

 

These adjustments to recruitment searches not only help to fill open roles with high quality candidates, but also help to encourage more diversity because a wider range of backgrounds is automatically included.

 

This diversity of opinions, perspectives, and skills helps to unlock faster problem-solving, increased creativity, more grounded decision-making, and much more. It’s no surprise, then, that research from McKinsey finds that companies in the top quartile for ethnic and cultural diversity have 36% better profitability than those in the fourth quartile.

 

This approach also creates a virtuous hiring circle. More than three in four job-seekers report that a diverse workforce is an important factor when evaluating companies and considering employment offers.

 

And a wider range of backgrounds and skillsets, helps to create a stronger culture of digital knowledge-sharing.

 

Develop a strong onboarding process

A key component of a workforce’s digital upskill is its new hire onboarding process. Even if an employee joins without the requisite job-specific skills, a comprehensive onboarding is the perfect opportunity to kickstart learning journeys and ensure they’re up to speed as quickly as possible.

 

It also allows businesses to train new starters on the niche technical capacities their role may involve, whether that’s basic coding for employees to take advantage of Low/No-Code platforms or the transfer of deep technical knowledge to new environments. 

 

Studies show that almost two-thirds (63%) of businesses prefer hiring candidates with the right aptitude to be trained up on specific digital skills, rather than if they came with pre-conceived ideas or methods that might not match company practices.

 

For the onboarding to be a success, it seems obvious to say that it must take place in a supportive and inclusive learning environment. Mentors, buddies and ‘meet and greets’ with a range of colleagues and leaders all help new starters acclimatise to their surroundings.

 

The key thing is to make everyone feel confident in developing the requisite tech skills to help them thrive.

 

Future-proof your business with technology

Unconventional hiring and strong onboarding help to curb the talent shortfall and stay competitive. The greater diversity of skills and backgrounds also builds a culture of growth.

 

Leaders must play their part by promoting opportunities for development and progression, recognising and rewarding good outcomes, and emphasising initiatives that can help boost morale and talent retention.

 

The development of digital skills can also be facilitated through technology. Alongside the headline benefits of workplace tech, such as streamlined processes and greater productivity, giving employees access so they can ‘learn by doing’ is often the most effective training method of all.

 

It’s a classic case of practice makes perfect. The more exposure that employees get to advanced IoT devices and software, for instance, the faster they can grasp the tech and begin harnessing it to its full potential.

 

Bridging the skills gap is as urgent a challenge as it’s ever been, despite hiring freezes and tech layoffs dominating the news. Fortunately, the right hiring, onboarding, and technology strategies also mean it’s achievable.

 

For leaders to fully future-proof their businesses, they need to support employees through every stage of their digital upskill.

 

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Nadeem Malik is head of Software AG, UK and Ireland

 

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com