Martin Hill, the Sales Director for IT giant Dell’s EMEA business, said it
is important to concentrate on providing more training for employees to
ward off skills shortages.
Hill claimed that up-skilling existing staff is a far superior solution to
hiring new staff when skills shortages are being felt. Writing for HR
Magazine, he said that survey results such as those from union Unite -
which showed that 62 per cent of IT staff felt they lacked the training
needed to keep their skills up to date - were alarming. Another survey from
Computer Weekly cited by Hill found that 50 per cent of the IT staff
questioned had received no staff training in the past five years.
This worrying trend will result in skills shortages and a weaker UK IT
industry if it continues, claimed Hill, who added, "An imminent skills
shortage is lurking that will affect all organisations with a significant
IT infrastructure."
The solution presented by Hill was simply to equip existing staff with
better skills and more training to ensure they have the workplace skills
they need to perform their jobs with confidence. Hill says that upping
staff training and development can significantly boost productivity, staff
morale and as a result, lead to a fall in staff turnover.
"Now that markets are starting to pick up, it is important organisations
don’t turn their back on staff development," explained Hill.
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