Britain’s got talent – just not enough of it. As the workplace transforms digitally, employees are ready and willing but businesses need help to reap the rewards of this brave new world
MIND the
How can employers
rise to the challenge?
The bottom line is that businesses simply can’t afford to take that long. History is littered with businesses that took too long to adjust, from Blockbusters’ failure to see how movies by mail – and then by digital – would kill its value model, to Debenhams’ belated embrace of online retail.In other words, while most businesses moved quickly to transform during the Covid-19 crisis, inertia is not a viable option even during the recovery.
Time is of the essence
ACTION
Find out how ServiceNow delivers digital workflows that create
great experiences and unlock productivity
Make Work Flow with ServiceNow
LEARN MORE
SKILLS GAP
Even before the perfect storm of Covid-19, Brexit and global supply chain problems, many British businesses faced a skills problem.
In 2018, an Open University study warned that the UK’s talent shortage was costing companies £6.3 billion a year. In 2019, management consultancy McKinsey & Company predicted that within a decade, two thirds of the UK workforce could lack the skills employers require. And earlier this year, a government-commissioned report found almost half of employers were struggling to recruit staff with the right digital capabilities.
Now, many organisations find themselves at crisis point. Mid-pandemic, their value proposition is changing rapidly and their operational model has pivoted. Digital transformation across all industries – from the rise of automation and artificial intelligence to increased reliance on ecommerce – requires a workforce with very different skills and experience.
Don’t just focus on recruitment. Think about cultural change too
60%
of businesses do not have fully integrated systems to manage digital workflows
“
Illustrations by Janne Iivonen for Bridge Studio
The workers want to evolve
The good news is that new technologies will help. For example, the rise of low-code platforms that allow non-IT employees to develop their own business applications makes it possible to keep up with the growing demand for enterprise apps. The training that employees need to use such tools can be delivered in the workplace.
As technological solutions become more accessible to the average employee, there will be an even greater focus on softer skills. One lesson of the pandemic, warns research from City & Guilds, is that many organisations are struggling with attributes such as leadership, problem-solving and empathy.
One response, suggests ServiceNow’s Laurent Briant, will be to bring new talent into the workforce, recruit from broader pools than in the past. “This is where you will find those qualities – perseverance, problem-solving, the ability to work in a team – that are so crucial,” he says.
Technology is on our side
Many employers are already focused on diversity and inclusion as part of their environmental, social and governance agendas, not least because of stakeholder pressure, but the business case for recruiting more widely is powerful. In 2015, research by McKinsey established that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity outperform their competitors by an average of 15 per cent; those in the top quartile for ethnic diversity outperform by 35 per cent.
“If you don’t think about how to build a more diverse workforce, you will find your business at a serious competitive disadvantage,” warns the CIPD’s Lizzie Crowley. The key, she suggests, is to be imaginative and wide-ranging in your recruiting efforts. For example, some organisations are seeking to improve gender diversity by targeting women who left the workforce to have children but haven’t returned. Others are working with schools and colleges with significant black, Asian and minority ethnic intakes, creating broader pipelines of talent for future recruitment.
Similarly, Briant points to work that ServiceNow does via its NextGen Programme with organisations such as The Prince’s Trust and the Refugee Council, recruiting from constituencies who may lack technical qualifications but often possess other highly valuable skills. “We often see those qualities shine through more so than in candidates coming from traditional backgrounds such as university courses.”
“Don’t just focus on recruitment,” warns Crowley. “Think about cultural change too – does your organisation ensure all new recruits are able to flourish and progress in their careers?”
Technological change will undoubtedly be part of the story. While the rise of automation has prompted anxiety about dwindling employment, the growing consensus is that robots will change rather than steal people’s jobs – and probably change them for the better.
The World Economic Forum’s research suggests 85 million jobs worldwide could disappear by 2025 because machines are doing them instead. However, it also says 97 million jobs will be created during this transition, typically without the boring and repetitive elements that robots are so good at taking on.
Diversity helps
For employers, the question then becomes how best to build the workforce of the future. Where can new technologies, such as workflow platforms, automation and artificial intelligence, offer improved efficiency, enhanced performance and reduced cost? What opportunities does that create for employees to take on more value-additive roles, both for their own benefit and that of the organisation? And what new skills will those employees require?
Answering these questions will be crucial for employers as they adapt to the new realities of the working environment and the marketplace. In the short term, argues Tony Danker, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, the UK may need emergency measures to combat some of the labour shortages seen in key sectors in recent months, but the bigger challenge is long term.
“Building a more innovative economy – coupled with better training and education – can sustainably improve business performance, wages and living standards,” he says. “But transformation on this scale requires planning and takes time.”
The shape of jobs to come
85 million
jobs worldwide could disappear by 2025 because machines are doing them. But 97 million could be created during this transition
Employees are ready to embrace change. Research from digital workflow provider ServiceNow shows that 87 per cent of workers believe new practices introduced during the pandemic – such as working from home – are an improvement on what went before; 60 per cent want to maintain them.
However, employers are often more cautious. The same research shows 60 per cent of businesses do not have fully integrated systems to manage digital workflows.
Laurent Briant, director of government programmes at ServiceNow, believes employers need to look beyond the binary choice between home and office-based working. “The debate has moved on to a richer discussion about how to be adaptive and productive,” he says. “What is required for us all to be as productive as we can be?”
In practice, that means focusing on what employees can offer rather than where they work, explains Lizzie Crowley, skills policy adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). “Not enough organisations have begun to think strategically about the talent and skills they need in the years ahead,” she says.
“It is going to be a mix: employers will need staff who have deep technical skills, but they will also need people with softer skills – creative thinking, for example, and the ability to communicate effectively.”
Recruitment will be challenging. The Learning & Work Institute says 60 per cent of UK employers expect to need staff with more advanced digital skills over the next five years. But while that will span competencies ranging from data science to coding, the number of young people taking IT subjects at GCSE has fallen 40 per cent over the past six years.
PROMOTED CONTENT
We create digital experiences that help your organisation work smarter, faster and better
The world works with ServiceNow
LEARN MORE
