When we talk about skills, we often focus on how best to support younger generations as they enter the workforce, or the value of academic achievement versus vocational skills.
These are unquestionably core aspects of ensuring we have the right resources for growth. Yet the truth is that all skills, at all stages of the career ladder, matter: not only for productivity, but also for increasing social mobility and keeping pace with changes to the way we do business, for example.
Each of these factors is an essential component of a thriving economy. Providing sufficient training to new recruits and continuously upskilling (or reskilling) existing staff will therefore be crucial in achieving our growth ambitions. As a service economy, and with the customer experience increasingly being the critical differentiator, doing so in your organisation is vital to retaining and attracting customers. This is not about skilling a department or function; it is about ensuring anyone dealing with a customer internally or externally has the right skills to do so.
Service skills for the future
This thought struck a chord with me for one main reason: that the service landscape has evolved dramatically, and with it, the role of a customer service professional.
What once could be considered a comparatively straightforward, face-to-face interaction now demands an intricate combination of skills, behaviours and attitudes. And with one eye on the future, it’s interesting to think about how the skills we deem important for service roles will continue to shift.
For one, understanding, navigating, and getting the best out of technology will be essential. With the pace at which businesses have implemented new tech-enabled solutions in the last decade or so, coupled with the speed of AI evolution, digital capabilities will offer a competitive advantage in a challenging labour market.
This will require better interpretation and analysis of data. One significant area of potential for tech and AI to enhance the customer experience lies in the data it allows us to collect, combine and quickly analyse, enabling smoother operations in the background while facilitating a more personalised service interaction. When done responsibly, how organisations maximise this potential through their staff will become a huge differential for the bottom line.
But it’s not all about digital skills. As customers ourselves, I’m sure we can agree that the value of a personal touch will never go away. And increasingly, we’re seeing human elements like empathy, care and flexibility identified as the most important drivers of customer satisfaction. Ensuring our people are equipped with these capabilities, therefore, is equally important.
A moment for businesses to lead the way
To ensure training and upskilling reaches everybody, the Government should of course play its part through the right initiatives and investment. But with skills shortages, productivity issues and a potential employment crisis looming, this is a critical moment for businesses to step up.
As Alan John, former education secretary, argues for the FT, “with four out of five of the workers of 2035 already in the workplace today, we cannot rely on schools, colleges and universities”.
Our data shows that there is some recognition of this: 47% of senior managers identified “developing the skills and capabilities of existing employees” as the most important factor in acquiring the skills their organisation will need in the next 5 years.
But this isn’t always the case in practice: 51% of managers spent at least 5 days in training and development in the last year, compared to only 24% of employees. Meanwhile, 18% of employees received no training at all in the last year, compared to just 4% of managers.
To meet the skills requirements to improve our nation’s economic health and build an agile workforce fit for the future of business, improvements in these numbers will be essential. By continuing to invest in training and upskilling, companies can retain their best people while building an adaptable, more productive workforce.
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