Helping people to pre-skill, upskill and reskill for in demand roles remains the defining challenge of this decade.
Bright Futures LBG research suggests that Guernsey employers are compromising on a skills match for roles to the magnitude of up to 64%, promoting many to consider a shift in their recruitment of talent from outside of the island.
This echo’s research from UK employers who are spending more than £6 billion a year on the skills shortage, predominantly through recruitment activities, but buying skills and not building them is a short-term approach, which ultimately will not pay dividends. It is crucial that policy makers and organisations take a more sustainable approach, using a range of training solutions to address their skills gaps from within and reducing their spend in the long-term.
Training, particularly e-learning or distance learning is trending. Employees increasingly want more personalised, applicable, bite-size, curated content, easy to access and relevant. In anticipation of a prolonged recession the UK Government recently launched a series of skills and lifelong learning initiatives in an attempt to pre-skill, upskill or reskill the nation.
“Jobs are not guaranteed in any economy. Employers, particularly those private equity backed organisations will select jurisdictions on the basis of ease and cost of doing business, regulation, and access to talent. The more we can position Guernsey as a destination of choice across these measures, the more successful we will all be.” Susie Crowder, Founding Director of Bright Futures LBG.
Whilst our future of work will undoubtedly involve more technology, soft skills, such as communication, time management, prioritisation, adaptability, analytical thinking, initiative-taking and empathy, are more highly valued and sought after by employers than ever before. Organisations are realising that they need a workforce of continuous learners, agile for new tasks and ready and resilient for times of change and disruption. The massive shift to remote work means collaboration, teamwork and other soft skills are in the highest demand, yet only 30% of organisations are investing in soft skilling and one third are planning dedicated leadership development in the next six months.
If there is one thing that COVID 19 has reminded us, it is that we are truly operating on a global stage. Businesses can now source talent, increasingly on a contract basis from gig workers from anywhere in the world. We all need to recession proof ourselves. Investing in skills is a good step in the right direction.
Previous research has shown that as many as 375 million workers globally might have to change occupations in the next decade to meet companies’ needs. Some will make this transition with ease. For those that will struggle, additional support will be required to upskill or re-skill in readiness.
“We welcome the reset of Skills Guernsey and look forward to supporting Government and other agencies to ensure businesses can source on island skills in a cost effective manner.” Susie Crowder, Founding Director of Bright Futures LBG.
