Member Article

Technology and Apprenticeships team up to address the UK’s digital skills gap

Apprenticeship training provider CliQify Skills, joins partners with new cloud-based platform, TeamPlayerHR with the aim of tackling the UK’s digital skills shortage.

According to Shankar Narayanan, head of UK&I, Tata Consultancy Services, a shortfall of 40,000 people with STEM skills is costing the UK economy £63 billion per year.

“And the issue is not as simple as a digital skills shortage”, said Adrian Bishop, managing director of CliQify Skills, “rather multiple factors that continue to compound this growing problem”.

For instance, the UK’s tech growth continues at a staggering rate; approximately three times faster than any other labour market and equally faster than education.

“Although there is tremendous growth in tech, the real cause for concern is that STEM topics that could be beneficial to the economy remain elusive from the national curriculum.”

A fact supported by research conducted by SMA Labs, which showed a staggering 70% of 18-24 year olds claiming not to have covered subjects such as coding and analytics as part of their education.

And figures published by the OECD also indicate a highly mobile UK workforce with an average length of tenure at 4.6 years, compared to the Czech Republic’s 18.3; the highest for an EU nation.

“With over a third of employee turnover due to frustration, boredom or a poor work-life balance, what this indicates is that staff value their work life culture and if the balance isn’t right, they will leave.”

From an overall stand-point the UK’s digital skills shortage is a complex picture, compounded by a lack of education, a highly mobile workforce with a strong sense of belonging and exponential tech growth.

“The cultural fit could be a starting point to which we can begin to unravel the complexity of the situation. Finding a way of retaining and upskilling staff could hold the key to reducing the skills gap”.

And Adrian believes he has found a potential solution from a new partnership with TeamPlayerHR.

“By integrating TeamPlayerHR into our candidate recruitment strategy, we are better equipped with matching candidates to employers that share similar intrinsic values and work habits.”

Designed by UK behavioural psychologists and together with founder, James Lanas, TeamPlayerHR is a revolutionary new website patented tool that reduces the problem of bad hires and drives high-performance team building for employers.

“The supply of high quality digital skills in the UK generally is already stretched. With the rapid growth in tech, unless we consider ways of improving staff retention levels, this shortage is only going to deepen.”

This will be the first time such technology would have been introduced into the UK, and specifically within Apprenticeship recruitment.

Research published by the National Apprenticeship Service shows that 90 percent of employers believe apprenticeships help provide a consistent flow of suitably trained staff, and play an important role in addressing skills gaps across industries.

After completing a quick web based questionnaire, data can be measured against that of other users such as colleagues, managers and other team members. Individual “IM” (Intrinsic Matrix) profiles are compared and the higher the match, the closer the cultural fit.

TeamPlayerHR will assist by looking at the cultural fit between candidates and employers, something that is not yet offered as part of the hiring of Apprentices. In addition, the tool can also help realise relationship opportunities between existing teams and workers.

By providing employers the opportunity to recruit more effectively, this will lead to improved staff mobility and longevity, and ultimately begin to bridge the digital skills gap.

ENDS

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Adrian Bishop .