Business

Over half of adults in the north unprepared for future world of work

Over half of workers in the north lack the necessary skills such as leadership, to prepare themselves for the future world of work, according to a new survey
Over half of workers in the north lack the necessary skills such as leadership, to prepare themselves for the future world of work, according to a new survey Over half of workers in the north lack the necessary skills such as leadership, to prepare themselves for the future world of work, according to a new survey

OVER half of workers in the north lack the necessary skills to prepare themselves for the future world of work, a new survey has revealed.

The significant skills gap has been laid bare by a study from Barclays LifeSkills, with a large proportion of adults in Northern Ireland failing to demonstrate core employability skills, such as leadership and creativity.

According to the report 'How employable is the UK?', 55 per cent of over 16s in the north are failing to demonstrate all the employability skills needed to succeed in the future workplace. This is compared to 57 per cent across the UK as a whole.

The research for Northern Ireland showed millennials to be the lowest performing age group, with just four in 10 (39 per cent) of 25-34 year-olds able to display all of the core skills. By comparison almost half (47 per cent) of baby boomers (51-65 year-olds) had the full range of employability skills, but rated far lower in their self-confidence. For every skill, women outperformed men, with 46 per cent of women able to demonstrate they had all seven skills, compared to just 39 per cent of men. In spite of the gap, men were much more likely than women to be highly confident in their own skills.

The seven employability skills are what humans are best at – they cannot be replicated by robots and will become even more valuable in the future, as global patterns of work change and automation, freelance working patterns and the average working age all increase.

The study showed that traditional sources of these skills, like in-work training and formal education, are not currently set-up to tackle the employability skills gap.

Despite the majority (79 per cent) of UK employers rating the skills as important to their industry in the next ten years, a third (34 per cent) do not plan to offer any training in the near future.

Further research among UK teachers found that one in five (22 per cent) do not think their institution is effective in developing employability skills for pupils, with just 6 per cent stating students are fully prepared with these skills when leaving the school gates.

The UK-wide report surveyed and tested over 10,000 16-65 year olds, 600 employers and 500 educators, including those in the north.

Ashok Vaswani, CEO of Barclays UK, said the findings highlight the importance of lifelong learning.

"I firmly believe that education should not stop at the school gates – businesses, educators and the Government all have a role to play.

“We need to work together to agree a core set of transferable employability skills, giving people of all ages the tools needed to upskill and ultimately creating a competitive workforce that will support the UK economy."

To help address the issue, Barclays is extending its LifeSkills programme to the whole of the UK workforce, aiming to help 10 million people

by the end of 2022.