Around a third of UK employees will need to reskill or upskill to meet the demands of future jobs, according to a poll of 200 HR professionals by Aon.
The poll was conducted during a webinar for UK HR professionals looking at building a skills-based talent strategy.
More than more than 50 percent of those polled said that around a third of employees needed to upgrade their skills. A similar proportion said that they had either not started a baseline review of skills at their organisation or had not yet completed one.
Charlotte Schaller, partner, and head of assessment for the UK at Aon, said the poll confirmed that HR are “all too aware” of the skills challenge that today’s organisations face.
“The workplace and talent landscape is in constant upheaval and there are numerous factors that will change the future of work. These include the advancement of artificial intelligence and other technologies, the disruptive impact of new entrants to every marketplace, the changes in models and location of work, and the greater ownership of individual career futures. All these factors impact the skills needed both right now and into the future.”
She said that in such a rapidly evolving context and with employers working to build a resilient workforce, organisations have hard decisions to make.
“They need the right workforce skills to deliver growth, while at the same time being challenged by talent scarcities. Inflation, higher operational costs and the need for businesses to conserve cash to preserve operating margins, can make it hard to achieve a balance between optimising people spend and planning sufficiently for the future.”
