How is your global skills crisis shaping up?

Right now (as of September 2021) a driver shortage is masquerading as a fuel shortage. There aren’t enough suitably-trained truck drivers to move fuel to forecourts at the right time, leaving many petrol stations empty and others with huge queues. 

The lack of fuel drivers has its roots in the UK’s withdrawal from EU trade and movement agreements (aka Brexit). But the shortage in all delivery driver categories has been with us for some time – not just in the UK, but globally.   

The steady swing from high-street to online shopping was the initial cause, then it exploded with pandemic lockdowns and movement restrictions. If we can’t get to the shops, the shops must deliver to us. 

But of course, skills shortages are not restricted to drivers.  

In June 2021, Manpower Group found “seven in ten employers globally are reporting difficulties hiring skilled workers in high-demand areas including Operations and Logistics, Manufacturing and Production, IT, and Sales and Marketing.”1  

The problem is broad, not narrow. Global, not local. 

Global Talent Shortages Reach 15-Year-High 

We’re officially in a global skills crisis. The World Economic Forum predicts that 50% of all employees will need re-skilling by 2025.2 While McKinsey found that 43% of companies have skills gaps now and 87% expect them within 3-5 years.3   

  Manpower’s headline puts it clearly: “Global talent shortages reach 15-year-high as workforce transformation reshapes in-demand skills.” 

As a result, there is more attention than ever on identifying and closing skills gaps across organisations, ensuring the workforce is fit for purpose this year, next year and beyond. KPMG reports that: “With the cost pressures of recruitment and the impacts of the pandemic on talent pipelines, reskilling and upskilling have become top priorities for the C-Suite.”4  

Relieving Your Pain 

Whatever the global situation, it is of course your pain that you feel and need to address for your organisation. 

Our customers use Simply Navigate to take away the pains caused by the skills crisis. These include: 

• Companies wanting to pinpoint critical skills now that’ll be required next year and the year after.  Because, if they don’t focus correctly and invest appropriately now, they’ll be way behind the curve by next year.  

• Companies needing to get organised around skills - mapping roles to skills, creating a fit-for-the-future role/skill taxonomy, publishing career paths so the workforce knows which skills are top priority and recruitment targeting accurately.  

• Companies struggling to hire the most in-demand skills. Instead of competing directly for scarce talent – either driving up costs or failing to fill critical gaps – they use Simply to explore adjacent skills and open up new sources of talent inside and outside the organisation. With 6 in 10 roles filled by internal hires in large organisations, there’s a huge opportunity here.5 

• Companies wrestling with build or buy decisions – to work out which skills are most feasible to train from within vs. which skills are available to hire externally at what price.  

• Companies building the HR skills they need so their business is equipped to build and lead the workforce of the future. 

• Companies fighting their way through the complexity of the skills data & technology landscape – those that need a solution to integrate with their core HRIS, provide external market data and seamlessly join skills data from multiple sources.  

Why this matters 

Skills gaps are bad news at all levels: for individuals, teams, companies and society at large. Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, put it perfectly:  

“We find ourselves at a defining moment: the decisions and choices we make today will determine the course of entire generations’ lives and livelihoods. We have the tools at our disposal […] technological innovation can be leveraged to unleash human potential […] to reskill and upskill individuals in unprecedented numbers, to […] protect displaced workers from destitution, and to […] orient workers towards the jobs of tomorrow where they will be able to thrive.2” 

The global skills crisis is not going away.  But you can act now to ensure your workforce and your business aren’t left behind. Secure your future success with Simply Navigate.  

1 Skills revolution reboot: the 3 Rs – renew, reskill, redeploy.  ManpowerGroup, June 2021 

2 The Future of Jobs Report 2020.  World Economic Forum, October 2020 

3 Beyond hiring: How companies are reskilling to address talent gaps.  McKinsey, February 2020 

4 The future of HR: Lessons from the Pathfinders. KPMG, September 2021  

5 Ten Truths About the HR Technology Market. Bersin, September 2021