Skills gaps

Local businesses spent over £1 billion in one year on training their employees because of skills gaps in technical, practical and communication skills. agendaNi unpacks the figures.

Two million training days were given to Northern Ireland workers, who are lacking essential skills such as problem solving, oral communication and team-work, over the course of one year.

The Department for Employment and Learning (DEL) commissioned a skills monitoring survey in 2008 in order to determine where the skills gaps lie, how businesses are affected and what can be done to tackle the problem.

The survey, which had 4,000 participants from businesses throughout Northern Ireland, found that the labour turnover rate stood at 17 per cent, marking a 4 per cent rise from 13 per cent in 2005. At the time of the survey, 12 per cent of employers had a vacancy and collectively they were looking to fill approximately 17,000 posts. A third of employers with vacancies described at least some of these vacancies as difficult-to-fill and most of these attributed at least some of their recruitment difficulties to a lack of applicants with the required skills, experience or qualifications.

The report, which was published in November 2009, illustrates that 7 per cent of employers reported that they had specific jobs in which there is a high level of turnover. Employers within the hotels and restaurants and public administration sectors were the most likely to have retention difficulties.

On the skills gaps, the main findings were that 52 per cent of all skill-shortage vacancies were due to a lack of technical or practical skills for the job. In addition, 47 per cent of the 4,000 employers surveyed cited communication skills as lacking among applicants. 60 per cent of businesses identified gaps in problem solving; 57 per cent in customer handling; 50 per cent in oral communication; and 47 per cent in team working skills.

The main industries affected by skills gaps are financial services, health and social care, manufacturing, business services, wholesale and retail and public administration.

The impact on business was that 52 per cent of all employers surveyed said they faced difficulties in meeting their customer service objectives as a result of these skills gaps. Thirty-six per cent had difficulties meeting required quality standards, 34 per cent experienced increased running costs and 30 per cent experienced difficulties in introducing new working practices.

In response to the skills gaps, the majority of businesses surveyed reported that they invested in training for their staff. By sector, spend on training was highest for wholesale and retail (£239 million), health and social care (£237 million) and public administration (£197 million).

The report says that: “employers experiencing skill gaps within their current workforce say that a lack of time, cover and funding for training represent major barriers to maintaining a proficient team.”

Employment and Learning Committee Chair Sue Ramsey has said that skills gaps can be closed by improving apprenticeships.

“Apprenticeships are vital to the development of skills needed by our workforce to compete in the global economy,” she told the Assembly last year.

“We particularly need to find ways to encourage our small and medium enterprises to take on apprentices as these businesses make up the bulk of our private sector.”

Response by business to skills gaps:

• 81 per cent provided further training and development at a total cost of £1.45 billion
• 46 per cent expanded trainee programmes within their organisations
• 49 per cent decided to use a more extensive range of recruitment channels
• 26 per cent considered a wider range of applicants
• 16 per cent hired part-time staff