How Digital Transformation Impacts Technical Skills Gap
Here’s how organizations can strategically uplevel employees to fill staffing gaps.
Tech talent has never been harder to find (and maintain), However, the skills gap runs deeper than a lack of qualified technical employees. Becky Trevino, EVP of Product, Snow Software, shares how organizations can strategically uplevel employees to fill staffing gaps.
The last decade has been a whirlwind for IT leaders due to unruly technological disruption. Though understanding automation, data intelligence, and multi-cloud environments are part of most IT professionals’ job descriptions, many lack the basic skill sets. To keep pace with the technologically advanced world we live in today, companies need equally advanced and experienced workers who understand the ins and outs of the ever-changing technology landscape.
Jobs are constantly evolving due to digital transformation; for example, the role of the CIO today is virtually unrecognizable from when it was first defined in the 1980s. Most leaders aren’t setting their staff up for success amid the evolution of their roles, leaving gaps in their workforces. Given the organization’s lack of training and resources, many IT employees are inadequately trained to keep up with the rapid pace of innovation, thus producing inadequate deliverables. This has created a cycle of skills gaps, burnout, attrition, and ultimately hurting the organization’s bottom line.
By 2030, the U.S. could miss out on $1.748 trillion in revenue due to labor shortages — about 6 percent of the entire U.S. economy — driven by a shortage of skills, not people. With the pace of digital transformation only accelerating, organizations need to address the skills gap now by building a company culture that is always innovating, hiring highly skilled IT employees for specialized roles, prioritizing upskilling and reskilling opportunities for existing employees, and recruiting and retaining with a people-first mindset.
There is not an easy or short-term fix to address the current skills shortage, yet leaders can make headway on creating a future-proof workforce through these steps:
Building a Culture of Curiosity
Today, IT employees are bogged down with catastrophically long to-do lists, which has only worsened due to high burnout and attrition amid the ongoing “Great Resignation.” As employees are ‘checking off’ tasks, many are not slowing down to decipher how processes can become more efficient. Employers must empower all levels of IT staff with the freedom and encouragement to make changes to longstanding practices that no longer serve the current state of the workforce. By challenging people’s thinking and encouraging real-time feedback, employees will become leaders and innovators who constantly question, “how can we do this better?”
See More: Open Banking APIs Can Make Digital Transformation More Sustainable
Seeking Out Value-Add Employees Via Specialized Roles
Organizations must understand their evolving needs and hire IT talent who can bring fresh perspectives and expertise to the organization. For many, that looks like hiring workers with specialized skills in security, data management, automation, machine learning, multi-cloud environments, edge computing, and other specialties. Today, roles like cloud architects, site reliability engineers, data scientists, and data engineers are growing in demand. Also, new roles are being created to meet current needs in hard-to-fill areas such as Chief Data Officers and Chief Compliance Officers. Specialized workers are vital in today’s landscape as more enterprises move to the cloud, transition away from legacy architecture, and prepare for events that may have once been considered ‘unprecedented’ (e.g., distributed workforces, cybersecurity attacks, talent shortages). Leaders with highly specific skill sets will help navigate hard-to-understand business situations – and teach junior employees along the way.
Upskilling and Reskilling Current Employees
As the workforce evolves, many skills move from a nice-to-have to a must-have. Organizations – and employees – must keep pace with digital transformation to stay competitive and succeed in the modern workforce. To stay up to speed on the latest technological advancements, leaders need to invest in their IT employees by providing opportunities for continuous learning. This can look different for every organization, but it can be achieved through free online classes, company-run presentations, or a mentorship program. For instance, I previously worked at Rackspace, where leaders created “Rackspace University,” a robust program dedicated to learning the ins and outs of the cloud. This program was created to support Rackspace’s strategy as a co-founder of OpenStack public cloud, given that the cost of cloud talent was high – and even harder to come by. Led by our most cloud-savvy experts, “Rackspace University” participants were mentored, taught, and tested on a cloud-focused curriculum, elevating the staff’s skillset and minimizing the detrimental skills gap. Investment in employees builds team loyalty, comradery, and knowledge, all for a smaller cost than seeking out new talent – a win-win!
Recruiting and Retaining with a People-First Mindset
As an employee, you don’t want to feel like you’re just a number. To ensure your current and future staff feels seen, it’s vital to have open conversations about what they’re passionate about and direct their career path in a personalized manner, illustrating the “bigger picture” of the initiative at hand. By doing so, you’ll have a more engaged and inspired staff, which will ensure projects are completed in a high-quality, timely way – and will help keep employees on the payroll for the entirety of the project, whether it’s 6 months or three years. Due to the current state of the job market, recruiters are more aggressive than ever in filling empty positions. To ensure your staff isn’t taking calls from headhunters, you must show them they matter – from giving proactive retention bonuses to celebrating small career milestones. Employees are people (not robots) and should be treated like in the workplace.
The backbone of every organization is its employees. As digitalization explodes, leaders must create a work environment that promotes focus, excitement, learning, and curiosity. This will ignite employees with passion and a drive to be continuous learners – for themselves and their organization.
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