Sharing solutions for futureproofing the skills pipeline
Today, nearly a third of all job vacancies in the UK are a result of skills shortages, and this could translate into losses of around £39 billion in our economy every year if not addressed. But the economy isn’t the only thing that suffers. Skills gaps are a huge social issue, too.
This is something we’re acutely aware of at Hopscotch. Our work as a social-impact consultancy puts us at the intersection of our clients’ business purpose and society’s most pressing challenges. The skills gap is one such challenge and we recently partnered with The Crown Estate to host a panel discussion all about the necessary change needed to close it.
Our panellists included Olly Newton, The Edge Foundation; Kirsty Crosby, Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI); Gareth Bradford and Will Apps, The Crown Estate. Speaking candidly about the scale of the challenge and how this is affecting their specific sectors, our panel also inspired us with some of the initiatives that are making a difference.
We started off by talking about why this is such a significant issue to address, and why we need to tackle it now. What was stark was the very real threat the skills gap presents to social mobility. It, locks people out of the changing world of work, holds back their prospects for career and salary progression, and exacerbates the UK’s regional inequalities. Left unchecked, skills shortages can see whole communities being left behind.
Olly pointed out that skills shortages are not only a challenge to productivity in business, but also a problematic social issue, because there are almost a million unemployed young people. There’s a disconnect between what employers need and what skills people already have.
The Edge Foundation’s teacher externships programme is a great example of how to build closer links between education and employment, getting teachers out of the classroom and into workplaces. Bringing educators closer to the changing world of work can give them the tools to align their teaching to relevant, real-world examples.
Bringing in the view from the financial services sector, Kirsty highlighted that her industry is an ageing profession, with one company saying they would soon need 60,000 new financial advisors to replace those retiring. Yet very few school students even understand the role of an advisor, let alone consider it as a possible future career. These gaps in awareness, misconceptions, or stereotypes are materially affecting the financial services skills pipeline. Kirsty believes part of the challenge is learning how to build a compelling narrative for the sector. One that tackles myths, grows awareness, and piques interest in the many exciting opportunities available.
Alongside young people, CISI is delivering key interventions across the skills pipeline. Career-changers have been identified as a key audience; an important (but historically overlooked) group. People coming from different industries often have many skills applicable to financial services. This insight is something that can be applied to so many sectors, highlighting the importance of looking at untapped talent pools.
In terms of emerging sectors, offshore wind is rapidly growing and is crucial for the UK’s energy transition on the road toward net zero – but it needs a strong skills base to meet our nation’s targets. The industry needs an additional 10,000 people joining it every year over the next few years – just to ensure offshore wind can keep pace with current and projected demand. However, roughly 65% of people living in locations where offshore wind is active don’t realise there are employment opportunities.
Will emphasised that apprenticeships are an important part of filling skills gaps in offshore wind. There’s a huge untapped opportunity to reframe how partners across industries could come together to collaborate on broader, futureproofed apprenticeships with common language and standards for industry roles.
Another part of the solution is to approach the skills gap in a place-based way, working with a community to really understand its concerns and where to affect meaningful change. The Crown Estate’s new SkillSet programme, designed with our team at Hopscotch to support Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) work coaches in the East Coast region, is an example of this. The model aims to build a long-term skills pipeline for the offshore wind sector among local unemployed people – a great way to align focus on people and purpose when investing in skills to create social impact.
Ultimately what the panel discussion showed is that immediate change is needed. Closing the skills gap can be transformative but this will only happen if we focus on working together and working holistically. Traditional siloed approaches stop us from unleashing the potential of partnerships, not least of which is a pooling of resources so we can extend the reach of our impact. So, let’s follow that connective thread of collaboration across sectors and industries, applying creativity in how we can each bring our expertise to the table.
We’d love to hear from you!
Keen to explore how your company can futureproof its talent pipeline and brand reputation, while creating meaningful social value? Email Becky Feetham, Business Development Director, at becky@hopscotchconsulting.co.uk to start your journey.