There is a severe talent shortage, especially in the digital technology arena. many companies are facing difficulties in recruiting fresh talent in this area. But very few invest in upskilling their existing manpower.
These talent shortages are major impediments towards an organisation’s effort at digital transformation. There are many reasons for this but most challenges focus on cross-functional alignment across organisations and acceptance of the need for digital transformation. One reason that appears to be a major roadblock is the availability of skilled manpower.
Organisations are hampered in finding and hiring the right talent to develop digital transformation initiatives and also in creating a culture of continuous learning. This has been further exacerbated by the great resignation wave in the aftermath of the epidemic when employees preferred to work from home rather than return to the office. There is also a severe talent shortage in new technologies like machine learning and other AI-related technologies.
Companies are not upskilling their employees.
Very few companies are focused or focusing on upskilling their existing employees. Surprisingly, this was not even on their radar for as upskilling the existing manpower.
While talent and skills are in short supply, it is surprising that companies are not turning to upskill their existing manpower. This is the blind spot for so many digital transformation efforts where the focus has never been 0n the existing resources.
The great uncertainty.
Part of the reason for this indifference is the fact that Companies are not even sure what talent is required to design, support and implement the new digital initiatives. Companies are still not sure of what talent is required and allocate resources to get this done.
Many companies are still hesitant to commit themselves to remote and hybrid working styles. Some companies, are in fact, calling all their employees back to the office for better management and control.
The epidemic has shown everyone that geography is no longer a constraint in procuring the required talent, so long as proper systems are in place to manage and collaborate remotely and asynchronously. Companies have been slow to take decisions on when, where and how their employees should work, whether should they continue with remote work, switch to hybrid work, and focus on the effectiveness of the productivity of the work being done.
All these factors slow down the talent acquisition process as the systems and processes are still not in place for a dynamic work environment.
Today it seems companies are transforming everything in organisations except how the learning and development process is undertaken. Companies are not investing in training their manpower as they feel that eventually, they are going to leave. However, investing in both hard skills and soft skills early in the employees’ careers will serve the companies better both immediately as well as into the future.
To retain competitive advantage companies need to move fast in this field and address the problem upfront to help them meet, at least partially, the skill gap while looking simultaneously for fresh talent from outside.
How upskilling can help boost digital transformation
By Gordon Haff
EP 2022/07
R2G 