Are workers and businesses ready for digitisation and automation? Workers and bosses reveal their attitudes to learning and the impact of technology on the work place.

MIND THE GAP

40%of workers believe they need to learn

a new skill

37%of workers do not

believe they need to learn a new skillat the moment

45%London

42%East of England

50%South East44%

South West

49%

EastMidlands

56%

NothernIreland

46%Scotland

56%32% 3%

7% 2%

Micro(1-9)

Medium(50-249)

Small(10-49)

SMEs(10-249)

68%

50% 95%

97% 96%

of businesses surveyed offertraining to employees68%

of all workers believe that individual employees are responsible for keeping their skills up-to-date

Employers Professional associators

Individual employees Government

Other

32%

of all workers workers expect their ability to quickly adapt to change in the working environment to be most important over the next five years 48%

48%The ability to quickly adapt to changes in the working environment

38%Having skills and abilities that a robot does not have, such as emotional intelligence

35%An ability to work across a variety of tasks and areas of a business outside a traditional job description

27%The ability to analyse a large amount of information and make sense of it

20%To be able to as closely as possible, accurately predict what the impact of business decisions will be in the future

16%The ability to work seamlessly with automated processes and robots

1%Other

19%Don’t know

of all those surveyed see new technologies as an opportunity48%

of workers would prefer to learn a new professional skill which is specific to their role rather than digital learning, or a soft skill46%

13%New technology is a threat to my role and potentially for my current job

22%New technology is neither an

opportunity nor a threat

16%Have yet to consider whether new technology is an opportunity or a threat

46% 3%27% 23%

Professional skills OtherDigital skills such as coding, data analytics or cloud computing

Soft skills such as critical thinking, communications, problem solving and collaboration

West Midlands

42%

9%

13%

20%10%

22%

26%No

training

in 12 months+

A few times a year

Quarterly

Monthly

Weekly

Daily

17% 17%

9%

Northern Ireland Yorkshire &

Humber

London

How workers are prioritising learning across the UK

Attitude to learning

Workers prioritising new learning and skills

Workers by region who are not participating in learning

At a glance

38%of workers think that any portion of their role will be automated

62%of SME decision makers said sections of their operations could be automated in the next five years

26%of workers have not considered the impact of automation on their roles

Employers and employees have a different outlook on automation

of workers would prefer to learn a new professional skill which is specific to their role rather than digital learning, or a soft skill46%

46% 3%27% 23%

Professional skills specific to my role

OtherDigital skills such as coding, data analytics or cloud computing

Soft skills such as critical thinking, communications, problem solving and collaboration

Employability

Worker attitudes to learning new skills paints a mixed picture across the UK

MIND THE GAP

40%of UK workers

believe they need to learn a new skill

at the moment

37%of UK workers do not believe they

need to learn a new skill at the moment

45%London

42%East of England

50%South East44%

South West

49%

EastMidlands

56%

NothernIreland

46%Scotland

56%32% 3%

7% 2%

Micro(1-9)

Medium(50-249)

Small(10-49)

SMEs(10-249)

68%

50% 95%

97% 96%

of businesses surveyed offertraining to employees68%

of all workers believe that individual employees are responsible for keeping their skills up-to-date

Employers Professional associators

Individual employees Government

Other

32%

of all workers workers expect their ability to quickly adapt to change in the working environment to be most important over the next five years 48%

48%The ability to quickly adapt to changes in the working environment

38%Having skills and abilities that a robot does not have, such as emotional intelligence

35%An ability to work across a variety of tasks and areas of a business outside a traditional job description

27%The ability to analyse a large amount of information and make sense of it

20%To be able to as closely as possible, accurately predict what the impact of business decisions will be in the future

16%The ability to work seamlessly with automated processes and robots

1%Other

19%Don’t know

of all those surveyed see new technologies as an opportunity48%

of workers would prefer to learn a new professional skill which is specific to their role rather than digital learning, or a soft skill46%

13%New technology is a threat to my role and potentially for my current job

22%New technology is neither an

opportunity nor a threat

16%Have yet to consider whether new technology is an opportunity or a threat

46% 3%27% 23%

Professional skills OtherDigital skills such as coding, data analytics or cloud computing

Soft skills such as critical thinking, communications, problem solving and collaboration

of workers are not participating in learning in the West Midlands

42% 17% Yorkshire &

Humber

17% NorthernIreland

9% London

9%

13%

20%10%

22%

26%No

training

in 12 months+

A few times a year

Quarterly

Monthly

Weekly

Daily

Regional attitudes to learning

of all workers believe that individual employees are responsible for keeping their skills up-to-date32%

Employers Individual employees Government Professional associations Other

56% 32% 3% 7% 2%

Responsibility for learning

68% Micro(1-9)

50%

of SME businesses surveyed offer training to employees68%Employer training support

of all of workers expect the ability to quickly adapt to change in the working environment to be most important over the next five years48%

48%The ability to quickly adapt to changes in the working environment

38%Having skills and abilities that a robot does not have, such as emotional intelligence

35%An ability to work across a variety of tasks and areas of a business outside a traditional job description

27%The ability to analyse a large amount of information and make sense of it

20%To be able to as closely as possible, accurately predict what the impact of business decisions will be in the future

16%The ability to work seamlessly with automated processes and robots

1%Other

19%Don’t know

Skills needed for the next five years

of all those surveyed see new technologies as an opportunity 48%

13%New technology is a threat to my role and potentially for my current job

22%New technology is neither an opportunity nor a threat

16%Have yet to consider whether new technology is an opportunity or a threat

The impact of technology

Footnote: The data represented here displays the results of separate surveys conducted in May 2018 with UK workers and SME decision makers exploring the impact of automation and digitisation on job roles and skills.