In today’s competitive and fast-changing world, the skills and capabilities of the workforce are vital to economic sustainability and growth. Workplace skills include the ability to:
- Write and understand reports.
- Perform numerical and analytical tasks.
- Use computers technology to help solve problems.
- Carry out job-specific technical tasks.
There’s a growing recognition that ‘essential skills’ are vital. These are the widely transferable skills such as communication, team working and problem-solving that all workers need in modern workplaces. They are fundamental to people working together effectively, as well as to how they engage with customers and other external stakeholders. These skills apply to all jobs even though new technologies are changing some technical aspects of work. Previously, efforts to build these skills from education and into the workplace were hampered by the lack of a clear and common framework to define, measure, and assess these skills. That’s why the CIPD joined other leading organisations to champion a united approach and help develop a clear framework for assessing and developing these essential skills, to provide individuals and employers with the tools they need to succeed in the future workplace.
Our recent report Lifelong learning in the reskilling era highlights just how critical it is to embed a culture of continuous learning across the workforce. The research found that up to a third of UK workers will need to reskill in the next five years to keep pace with changes in their jobs, yet access to training opportunities remains uneven—particularly for older workers, those in lower-skilled roles, and people employed in smaller firms. The report argues that without targeted action to overcome these barriers, the UK risks widening inequalities in access to skills development, undermining productivity and inclusion. To build resilience in the face of technological change, demographic ageing and the green transition, employers and government must work together to ensure reskilling is accessible to all.
Skills are not the same as qualifications, although they are often treated interchangeably. However, the process of gaining a qualification undoubtedly builds on and improves skills. Qualifications also provide specialist knowledge and they signal a wide range of desirable attributes to employers. These complement, but are distinct from, the generic skills we use in the workplace. Both qualifications and skills matter, as a workforce with a low level of qualifications is also one likely to have low levels of skills.
Skills are important for:
- Economic growth and prosperity - The economic prosperity of a country depends on how many people are in work and how productive they are in the workplace. Better use of skills available in the workforce, alongside increased investment in skills and training, has been shown to improve productivity. Growth in productivity and prosperity build the conditions for improvements in real earnings, creating a ‘virtuous’ cycle.
- Individuals and organisations - For the individual, skills determine their employment and earning potential. For organisations, skills are vital to meeting both current and future business demands. To be successful and competitive, businesses must ensure their talent management and succession planning take into consideration what skills need to be sourced, nurtured, developed and retained now, in order to create successful and productive workforces of the future.
To tackle the UK’s underlying skills deficit, it’s not enough to focus on initial education and training. The vast majority of the future workforce are already in work. Employers must understand the importance of investing in and improving the skill levels of employees, including learning ‘in the flow’ of work, in-house development programmes and coaching. It’s important that these activities are underpinned by a culture where learning is not only embedded, but encouraged across every level of the organisation.
