The Skills Gap: Why It Is Keeping the CEOs Up at Night

As business models and technologies continue to evolve, companies across different industries are experiencing strides of change in the workforce skill sets they need to grow and expand their business operations. In the latest McKinsey Global Survey on the future workforce needs, about nine in ten executives and managers agreed to have experienced a skills gap already or are expecting one in the coming five years. The skills gap, especially in the IT industry, is real and causing a major concern for CEOs who are struggling to meet companies’ needs in the absence of skilled employees. 

But what is the skills gap? It’s the gap in the skills of an employee between “what the employer needs and what their workforce actually has”. From failing to match up to the ever-changing technology to overcompensating with outsourcing or needing to upscale employees, CEOs are definitely shouldering the brunt of the impact of the skills gap. 

Wondering how it is keeping the CEOs up at night? We discuss more on that in this article

Change in Technology is Progressive and Never-ending

However, the supply of skilled workers who can meet the evolving job roles and respond to the technological changes for their organization is much less than the pace at which technological advancements are taking place. As a result, an increasing number of companies are experiencing a widening skills gap within their internal teams.

Pre-existing Technical Skills Gap

The technical skills gap isn’t something new, recent, or trendy. It has been around for decades, and the progress in bridging that gap is alarmingly slow compared to how fast technology is growing. 

There is a sharp increase in technology skills knowledge, which is only going to grow if the employees in an organization don’t undergo upscaling of their existing skill set. 

Buying Talent is Expensive

CEOs are heavily focused on the financial aspects of a business. Recent reports from Gartner suggest that replacing an existing employee with a more “technologically sound” professional costs 1.5 to 2x more than the annual salary of the existing employee. This poses a lot of burden on a company’s overall finances. 

On the flip side, training existing employees to bridge this skills gap is no doubt a lot more cost-effective but extremely time-consuming. So, compromises have to be made accordingly

Unfilled Roles are Costing Organizations

Every company has competitors that have to outnumber to keep their pipeline filled with relevant projects and to keep the business operational. 

Skills gaps in employees are often leading to empty or unfulfilled positions in a company, which is inadvertently pushing companies toward losses. Extended vacancy in a certain job role affects the company’s efficiency and overall productivity, leading to staggering profit making. 

Conclusion

Investing in the employees of your organization is like directly investing in your company’s future. They are directly proportional and help in minimizing the skills gap that is progressively getting wider with the years. Instilling a culture of learning at work keeps the employees motivated and helps them tap into their true potential and implement those skills to escalate the company’s growth. 

Are you the CEO of a company worried about the skills gap in your organization?  

CloudThat is here to help. You can fill up the open positions and build a pool of skilled IT talent by getting your employees upskilled and reskilled on emerging technologies like Cloud, AI/ML, DevOps, Kubernetes, and more from CloudThat’s team of certified experts