Daily Management Review

Britain Loses ‘£63bn’ Every Year For Lacking In Digital Skills


07/21/2016


Barclays’ online poll reveals a lack in digital skills among British employees.



One of Barclay’s poll revealed that there is a lack in digital skills among the staff in Britain, whereby proving the failure of British employers to provide appropriate training to their employees for executing their respective jobs.
 
The said gaping wound in digital skills costs UK a loss of around “£63bn” on an annual basis. The poll was generated online which surveyed “10,000 people”, whereby indicating that Britain stood in number seven in “vocational skills” in a list featuring ten countries. In the U.K. only thirty eight percent of workers receive training, while in the U.S. it is forty eight and in India it is sixty seven percent.
 
The Chief Executive at Barclays, Ashok Vaswani, reflects:
“Clearly the government has done a lot to put the basic building blocks in place”.
“As the UK considers its future outside the European Union, we have to remember that the race to become the most digitally savvy economy is global and not confined to Europe."
 
Moreover, a report of the “science and technology committee” informed:
“...an estimate of 5.8m people in Britain have never used the internet. The 16% of the poll's UK respondents felt “very comfortable” building a website whereas in Brazil the figure was at 39%. According to researchers the greater confidence came from the younger workforce”.
 
However, Barclays is trying its level best to promote “digital services”, whereby providing support to struggling customers for whom using their tablet is a headache. Additionally, the firm is also “launching 12 pilot Eagle labs” which will let business have access to “3D printers and other technologies”.
 
Nevertheless, there has been no hint as to whether the “focus on online traffic” would result in shutting down of some “traditional branches” of Barclays; although, the bank has put on new roles that ensures a continued operations of its branches. Digitallook reports:
“Barclays run eight small sites in Asda supermarkets and have initiated a “click and collect” pilot with Amazon to enable customers to pick up their purchases from lockers in six of their branches”.
 
While, Vaswani from Barclays adds:
“If you think about the bankers of old, they were at the centre of the community, and they were respected. [These pilots] are about creating that in the digital world”.
 
 
 
 
 
 
References:
http://www.digitallook.com/