The Great Resignation may be easing off, but the battle for talent shows no signs of abating. In May, the Office for National Statistics revealed that, for the first time since records began, there were more job vacancies than unemployed people in the UK. Particularly in terms of tech skills, businesses are suffering – research by Virgin Media O2 Business and Censuswide on the battle for talent found that 55% of respondents agreed that their organisation is having a shortage of skills in relation to digital technology, while 83% were concerned about the impact this could have on their organisation.

“The UK jobs market has an extreme shortage of talent,” says Josh Brenner, chief executive of AI-driven recruitment marketplace Hired. He cites three main factors: a shortage of skills, fewer European workers because of Brexit, and a tendency for empowered workers to quit their jobs in search of something better. The Battle for Talent report shows that 35% of respondents said there was no one with the expertise to replace some people who had left the company.

According to research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the most popular response to this challenge among companies has been to raise pay. But most have gone as far down that road as they’d like, says the CIPD: only 27% anticipate upping pay in the future to address hard-to-fill vacancies.

An alternative, if less well publicised, means of attracting and keeping staff is by investing in the kind of technology that will make their working lives more efficient and more satisfying. According to the Battle for Talent survey, 81% of respondents agreed that technology plays an important role in helping them stay engaged and happy in their job.

“But by stepping up investment in the technology to help everyone work smarter, backed by the right digital training, both private and public sectors have an opportunity to improve the employee experience – and boost outputs at the same time. Employees across the UK rate connectivity infrastructure and hybrid working tools as key for improving their productivity and happiness at work, so it’s clear that now is not the time to row back on the digital transformation the UK has made over the past three years.”

Lay the foundations for success

According to the Battle for Talent survey, 72% of workers are frustrated at least once a week by the poor quality or lack of business technology available to them, and 48% say that poor-quality business technology makes them more likely to resign from their jobs within the next six months.

Yet these systems are essential for the smooth running of the devices and apps that enable employees to do their jobs properly – and are key to their workplace experience. Technological research and consulting firm Gartner predicts that remote workers will use at least four different device types by 2024 – up from three in 2019 – noting that 4G- and 5G-equipped devices will be key to a smooth employee experience.

“The job of the business is to source the right systems for the teams who use them, so that they drive the business plan – which, in turn, will drive employee engagement and satisfaction,” says Bidwell. “And as an added benefit, workers will also feel positively about the company because it’s investing in their future.”

The Battle for Talent survey found that 55% of respondents would be happier at work if their employer invested in new technology, while 42% said they would be more likely to stay in their current job if their employers provided more regular, intensive training on the use of digital technology.

According to a paper by Virgin Media O2 Business on the implications of this new work paradigm, a “dynamic” working model – in which people have greater flexibility to choose when and where they work – can open up new and under-tapped talent pools, including people with caring responsibilities, people with disabilities, and people who live outside the area of the head office.

In this dynamic world, the office is now competing with the home as a place to work, and it needs to earn people’s commutes. “Employers who make an effort to create an inspirational and inclusive working environment for when workers come to the office are far more likely to attract talent – and tech can help them do this,” says Alison Bawn, people director at Virgin Media O2 Business.

Enable anytime-anywhere collaboration

An important factor in dynamic working, especially when it comes to attracting candidates, is the ability to work not only wherever we choose but also at the times that best suit us. That means providing not just secure, reliable connectivity and video conferencing platforms, but also tools to enable employees to collaborate while working to different schedules.

“There’s been a big movement towards asynchronous video, where someone can record a message and send it to you, and you can look at it on your own time and send back any comments,” says Brenner, about the rise of this type of video solution from numerous startups, such as Loom, as well as big tech players, including Cisco’s Vidcast.

Global professional services company Accenture has taken this one step further, using Microsoft’s AltspaceVR platform to create an entire “enterprise metaverse”, which the company uses for a variety of purposes, including onboarding, training, meetings, events and just hanging out. Accenture invested in 60,000 Oculus Quest 2 headsets, which were sent to new hires – bringing an unexpected PR benefit, as many of them proceeded to post unboxing videos on social channels, praising how the company has embraced new technology.

Source: The Guardian

Powered by NewsAPI.org