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BUSINESS GROWTH
Find the skills that you need
By Rav Bumbra (pictured), founder of structur3dpeople
As new economic conditions are being laid out, it is critical for businesses to start thinking differently to ensure employees with the right skills can compete globally, helping to foster growth and prosperity for the UK economy. The South West is generating
interest as the fastest growing part of the UK economy outside of London. On a recent visit to the city, treasury chief secretary Liz Truss, MP even said Bristol could be “Britain’s answer to Silicon Valley”. Bristol is highly recognised for
having a significant tech cluster, as well as being a fantastic city to live. However to remain competitive and continue to be a world leading economy, businesses must continue to attract and have access to talent with the right skills that will drive growth in the region. With today’s workforce changing, it has never been more important to fully capitalise on the talents and skills of people, regardless of their gender, background, ethnicity, age and
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experience. Employers are starting to recognise that diversity of thought leads to greater creativity and innovation, improving productivity and performance. Increasing the pipeline of skilled and diverse tech talent becomes equally as important as transforming the skills of current employees. Here are three strategies that employers can start to adopt to help address any skills gaps and utilise all available talent.
1. Short term Returners and career changers A talent pool that has largely remained untapped, returners and career changers offer transferable skills that should not be overlooked. An in-house retraining programme is an easy fix to up-skill this valuable talent.
Flexibility on skills Be flexible and hire people who don’t necessarily have 100% of all the skills outlined on the job description. Consider what skills
are a necessity compared to what skills are a nice to have.
Female talent pipeline Currently only 17% of the tech workforce is female; encouraging more women into the business could significantly improve productivity and performance.
2. Medium term Widen the talent pool: Look to attract talent from a wider spectrum of disciplines. Graduates who have non-tech related degrees have the mindset to work in the tech industry. Designing business models that allow for effective on the job training, through to creating reward structures and cultures will also help to retain key talent, a must when an investment of this kind is being made.
3. Long term Invest in talent Nurture talent that will grow with your business. Apprenticeship programmes are seen to add real value, having positive impact on productivity and performance.
Apprentices, who might not
have the specific skillset from the offset, may have the generic IT skills and a good understanding of what is going on in the industry. By learning cutting edge stuff at University and bringing it back to the business will help apprentices bring in new ideas helping the business to stay ahead.
Invest in the future talent Jobs of the future have not even been created yet. But that doesn’t mean we hold fire on talent that will be required at a later date. We need to start developing that
pipeline of talent by transforming education and developing the skills, knowledge and awareness of young people, so they see a pathway into the wide variety of roles that will exist in the future. Businesses should start to invest
in their future talent and collaborate with organisations to encourage STEM learning in schools and further education with boys and girls.
www.structur3dpeople.co.uk
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