The Skills Crisis

Growing chasm between the skills of the workforce and the needs of businesses.

Across the globe, there is a growing chasm between the skills of the workforce and the needs of businesses. The rapid shift to a ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ isn’t being met with life-long training and investment in individuals’ learning needs for them to develop the skills needed to support our evolution to a more automated and technical workforce.

If skills development doesn’t catch up with the rate of technological change, Accenture estimate that the G20 economies could lose up to $11.5tn in cumulative GDP growth in the next decade. In a recent McKinsey Global Survey, 87% of executives said they were experiencing skills gaps in the workforce or expected them within a few years.

According to the Chartered Institute of Professional Development, the UK suffers from poor basic skills due weakness in the vocational education system and low investment in workplace training. In addition, The Open University reports that 91% of organisations in the UK struggle to find people with the right skills.

An urgent focus on improving how skills are developed and deployed is at the heart of addressing the UK’s high proportion of low-skilled and low-paid jobs.

Sectors such as the Waste & Recycling industry recognise the need to shift focus to a more holistic skills strategy and a circular economy to deliver new environmental policies.  The 2021 Presidential Report from the CIWM highlights the need for focus on communications and behaviour change, systems thinking, soft skills, data and information technology, circular economy and reuse and repair.

An urgent focus on improving how skills are developed and deployed is at the heart of addressing the UK’s high proportion of low-skilled and low-paid jobs.

A broader report from the World Economic Forum (WEF): Future of Jobs Report in 2020 highlights that soft skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving topped the list of skills employers believe will grow in prominence from 2020-2025. In addition, newly emerging soft skills in self-management such as active learning, resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility are coming to the fore and seen increasingly beneficial for the workforce of today.

Skills training must be accessible, inclusive, and proven to remove barriers, not only into work but to positively contributing to society. According to the same WEF report, 70% of employers expect to offer reskilling or upskilling by 2025, however only 42% of employees take up employer supported opportunities.

The world of work is changing. We know that industries and businesses in the UK need to provide a greater skillset to a higher proportion of their workforce for both to thrive.

We believe that engaging, bite-size eLearning content, specifically aimed to provide the skills needed for the underserved blue-collar workforce of today to support the needs of organisations tomorrow, is a great starting point. We are on a mission to arm an entire workforce with the skills needed to help businesses succeed and see individuals thrive.