Lack of skilled workers holding us back say employers

Three in five employers find it hard to recruit people who are up to the job, and it’s stunting the growth and competitiveness of UK businesses, new research reveals today.

The survey of over 13,000 employers, conducted by Skills for Business, found that over 60% of employers have difficulty recruiting people with the skills to do the job.

And, as a result of skill gaps amongst their current workforce, a quarter of employers say they find it difficult to drive their businesses forward by improving their products or services.

These figures are released as Skills for Business - the network of Sector Skills Councils - launches its first major communications campaign highlighting the relationship between skills and productivity.

Prominent business people feature explaining why they are committed to developing workforce skills as a foundation for success.

Philip Williamson, chief executive of Nationwide Building Society said:

We’ve actually proven statistically that there is a correlation between the commitment our employees have to the business and the way they then relate to our customers. The more committed they are to the business, the better they become at delivering great customer service.

It’s a simple realisation and one that the rest of our industry needs to wake up to fast.

Roger Putnam, Chairman of Ford and another campaign champion, agrees:

We believe real value comes from offering our customers the best possible service. And we achieve this by training not only our own sales and customer service staff, but also those of our dealers. It’s interesting that perhaps one of our biggest recent investments has been in the retail sales and service college at Loughborough University.

The research also revealed the skills shortage is hitting small businesses harder (39%) than larger corporates (18%).

Christopher Duff, Chief Executive of Skills for Business said:

These figures reflect the relative weakness of small employers in the recruitment market. It means small businesses and their employees get a raw deal, with larger companies often monopolising the labour market.

The Skills for Business network is made up of 25 Sector Skills Councils - either licensed or in development - whose role it is to represent the employers’ skills needs and push for changes which ensure skills supply meets demand.

Christopher Duff concluded: Through the establishment of a network of employer-led Sector Skills Councils, we are working to ensure that the UK workforce has all the skills needed by employers large and small to boost the performance of UK plc.