• Almost half (47{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}) of UK employers think their organisation would be more productive if the level of digital skills was higher
• However, businesses are only investing an average of £109 annually per employee on digital skills training, leaving them at risk of falling behind more digitally advanced competitors
• A third (34{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}) of UK employers admitted they find it difficult to implement the right training to digitally up-skill their workforce
• 40{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e} of employers say their organisation relies on younger employees and graduates for the digital skills they require, bypassing the need to train up mid-level employees

British businesses are not doing enough to boost employees’ digital competence, according to new research commissioned by Barclays.^[1] While almost half (47{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}) of all businesses believe better digital skills would lead to a more productive workforce, investment in digital upskilling remains low at only £109 per employee among medium and large businesses.^[2]

The survey of UK employees and employers found that businesses have struggled to digitally upskill the workforce, as a third (34{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}) of employers find it difficult to implement the right training to address the current lack of digital skills. Instead, two-fifths (40{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}) of businesses opt to hire younger, more digitally savvy employees to address the digital skills gap, with 45{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e} of organisations admitting to believing that older employees are often slower to pick up digital skills. A third (33{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}) of employers consider only a small proportion of their employees as having the digital skills they would expect of them given their role.

More than a quarter (27{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}) of employers surveyed considered knowledge of data and device protection a priority digital skill to look for when hiring new employees, exposing heightened concerns amongst British businesses around cyber and information security. Other digital skills that are a high priority for organisations are as follows:

• Ability to analyse large data sets (23{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e})
• Use social media effectively (21{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e})
• Use cloud-based tools and services for collaboration and storage (20{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e})
• Basic design skills (19{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e})
• Basic knowledge of building a website (16{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e})
• Coding skills (15{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e})
• Ability to produce video content (10{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e})

However, in spite of this mounting concern, businesses are not making the necessary investments in digital training, planning on increasing investment in digital skills by only 19{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e} over the next five years.^[3]

The squeezed middle

The deficit in digital skills is most apparent in medium-sized organisations, where almost half (45{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}) of all employers think only a small proportion of fellow workers in their organisation have the digital skills they would expect of them for their role, significantly higher than the average (33{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}).^[4]

However, these businesses are also the most aware of the need to invest in digital skills; almost two-thirds (63{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}) of medium-sized employers believe their organisation would be more productive if the level of digital skills was higher, with over a third (35{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}) claiming that digital skills are one of the top attributes they look for in a new recruit, higher than any other sized business.

Employer concerns are echoed by employees

Employees at medium-sized firms are the most concerned of any size of business about reduced productivity through lack of digital skills (38{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}), being overlooked for promotion (42{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}), being shown up by younger generation (37{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}), and redundancy (40{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}).

The fear of being replaced by a younger, digitally savvy employee is reflected by the fact that almost two thirds (59{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}) of medium-sized business owners say they rely on hiring younger employees and graduates to address the lack of digital skills, a figure significantly greater than the average (40{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}).

Despite feeling concerned at a lack of digital skills, a significant proportion of employees are still not taking steps to upskill themselves; almost half (47{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}) of all employees asked have never taken steps to boost their digital capabilities, while out of those that have only 16{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e} have done so in the last year.

Of those that have harnessed the opportunity to boost their digital skills, 63{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e} of employees in medium sized businesses say it has had a positive impact on their career progression; and an overwhelming 68{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e} said it has improved their ability to do their job, showing there is much to gain on both an individual and business level from investing in digital skills.
Credit: onrec.com