Three quarters of IT employers claim their company has a digital skills gap

New research from The Open University has revealed that 69% of employers are struggling to recruit staff with adequate digital skills.

The survey results revealed that the majority (77%) of employers say they currently have a digital skills gap in their organisation and are struggling to recruit new staff with adequate digital skills and to upskill their current staff.

62% of employers say they are also struggling to upskill their current staff with adequate digital skills.

Over half of employers say they plan on upskilling their staff to meet the skills gap in their company in the next two years.

Employers in England also acknowledged that improving digital skills would add value to their organisation.

48% of respondents say they think it would drive business’ profitability, 46% think it will improve productivity within the business and 45% think it will make the company more competitive in the marketplace.

Almost half (48%) of respondents think that upskilling their current employees would help them avoid expensive new hires.

Respondents revealed their commitment to finding solutions to these challenges by revealing their plans to upskill their current staff to meet the skills gap in their company in the next two years (56%) with many planning to reskill their existing staff into new roles (46%).

Jacky Hinton, director of apprenticeships and HTQs at The Open University, said: “As organisations continue to rely more and more on digital capability, this survey shows that it can be challenging to recruit staff into digital roles and keep existing employees up to date with relevant digital skills.”