There are 157,000 organisations employing ICT staff of whom 72,000
have no formal training plan. Nick Huber analyses the most
comprehensive study of the UK's IT workforce to date
It is almost impossible to overstate the importance of the
long-awaited report on the UK skills market for IT professionals by
the E-Skills National Training Organisation (NTO). This is the most
comprehensive study of its kind and it will underpin efforts by the
Government and industry to tackle IT skills shortages that can
damage the use of IT in business.
The survey, the first in a series of annual reports, was designed
to gather a detailed picture of the UK workforce. The long-term
goal of the study is to align the supply of IT professionals to the
demand from industry. Without a foundation of solid data, any
attempt to equip IT professionals with the right skills for the
future would be a shot in the dark.
The 85-page IT and Communications Professionals in the UK survey
provides the first realistic picture of the UK's IT workforce. It
covers job roles, gender and experience across industry sectors and
regions of the UK.
The report also spotlights the hot IT skills in demand, and gives a
breakdown of the job vacancies by industry and region.
And while much of its findings on the skills shortage will come as
no surprise, it does uncover widespread complacency on key issues
such as training and the perceived competency of information and
communications technology (ICT) staff by their employers.
Nearly 4,000 organisations with five or more employees took part in
the survey. The respondents were typically those responsible for IT
within the organisation or for personnel activities.
"It is probably one of the biggest employer surveys for IT and
telecoms," said Andrew Harvey Price, a member of the research team
for E-Skills NTO. "You need to identify the demand side of industry
[for the ICT workforce]. The big picture of this did not exist
before."
However, the survey was conducted between December 2000 and
February 2001 - before the economic downturn in the UK IT industry
really took effect.
At that time there were some 908,000 ICT professionals working in
the UK for 157,000 establishments. The public sector employed the
largest number of IT staff, accounting for nearly one-quarter (24%)
of the total of UK establishments employing five or more staff. It
was followed in joint second place by sales and leisure and IT and
telecommunications with 17% each.
But when other factors such as contractors are included in the
league table the IT and telecoms sector leapt ahead of public
services. It employed 39% of the ICT workforce - more than double
the amount employed by the public sector (18%).
Financial services - widely regarded as the IT industry trailblazer
- employed the fewest IT staff with 6% on these criteria.
The typical IT professional is male and works full time on a
permanent contract. More than three-quarters (76%) of staff
employed by respondents had three or more years' experience in
their current roles.
But despite the well-documented gender imbalance there were
regional pockets where the proportion of female IT staff was
significantly higher. In Northern Ireland women accounted for
nearly half (45%) of the ICT workforce while in the North East they
made up 42% of IT professionals.
One in three IT staff (340,000) work in an internal operations
role, followed by development (236,000) and customer services
(110,000).
Industry shortages
IT and telecoms businesses suffered
most from the skills shortage, with one in four hit (26% and 27%)
by shortages.
Vacancies within companies for ICT professionals were greatest in
the development and internal operations functions. Together these
two categories accounted for 18,000 vacancies - almost two-thirds
of all vacancies.
A rump of employers (6%) admitted they had "hard-to-fill" vacancies
for ICT staff. Posts for technicians/ engineers were the most
common hard-to-fill vacancies.
IT staff proficiency
On a more controversial note, the
survey asked employers to assess the proportion of their IT
workforce they believed to be fully proficient. This judgement
involved respondents looking at all the skills gaps in their
organisations to evaluate whether the ICT staff could meet business
objectives.
Overall, skills gaps existed in 42% of the companies taking part.
So, two-fifths of UK organisations employing ICT professionals
believe their ICT teams are not fully up to the job.
Almost three-quarters (71%) of establishments with gaps in ICT
skills said they experienced disruptions to the operation and
development of their business as a result of shortfalls in the
proficiency of ICT staff.
However, on average employers said 85% of their staff were fully
proficient in their current role. Harvey said this proficiency
rating was high compared to other industries.
"The effect of not having proficient staff has some fairly horrific
impacts," he said. These include delays in the development of new
products and services (30%) and difficulty in meeting goals in
customer service.
A lack of experience in new technologies was the main reason given
by respondents for the lack of proficiency and was cited by
two-thirds (67%) of establishments experiencing skills gaps. Few
employers, however, were able to specify exactly what technical
skills their IT staff lacked.
But what should be done to ease the skills shortage? Increased
staff training is the answer to skill gaps, according to three out
of four employers (74%). But there are different approaches to
tackling the skills gaps between industry sectors.
IT and telecoms companies, for instance, were more likely to combat
skills shortages by relocating work or changing work
practices.
Crucially, though, employers seem to be paying lip service to the
need for more training. Just under half (46%) of UK establishments
employing IT staff did not have a formal training budget or plan.
This adds up to more than 300,000 people working in 72,000
organisations.
Training arrangements were more likely to be formalised in
companies with 250 or more staff. Here, 80% of companies had
formalised training arrangements, compared to 49% of small
employers.
The breadth and depth of the E-Skills NTO survey is a landmark for
the IT workforce. It is the first serious attempt to understand the
IT labour force and align the supply of skills with demand.
The data is already a year old but it will prove invaluable in
launching a concerted attempt to tackle the skills shortage that
can hamper the effective use of computers in business. Employers
and the Government now have to begin the hard work.