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June 2022 - Information Technology

Seven out of 10 IT employers are finding it difficult to recruit staff with adequate digital skills: A survey of IT employers has found that 69% are finding it difficult to recruit staff with adequate digital skills, with more than three-quarters (77%) stating that their company is facing a digital skills gap.

The research by the Open University polled 425 IT decision-makers in the UK, with more than half (57%) saying that their organisation does not invest enough in digital skills. This is despite 48% believing that digital skills will boost the profitability of their business, and 46% believing that they are a way to drive productivity. Forty-five percent (45%) of respondents also said that they believe improving digital skills within their organisation would ensure their business is more competitive.

When asked about what they can do to improve the digital skills in the workplace, almost half (48%) said that giving their current staff additional training would help them avoid expensive new hires. Three in five respondents, however (62%) said that they are experiencing difficulty trying to upskill existing staff with the digital skills they need for their business.

According to the research, the most needed skills for UK businesses include cyber security, which 42% of businesses polled said they lacked, as well as software development (lacked by 36%) and network engineering (lacked by 24%).

Jack Hinton, the Open University’s director of Apprenticeships and Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs) said of the research, it shows that "it can be challenging to recruit staff into digital roles and keep existing employees up to date with relevant digital skills.”

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