Because of the coronavirus (Covid19) pandemic, the workplace landscape has changed rapidly as the digital revolution continues to permeate every aspect of our lives and the business environment.
So what does this mean for businesses and the workforce? It means businesses and organisations will need to invest in technologies that will help a remote workforce function effectively. Secondly, managers will require skills to support and develop this remote workforce.
Upskilling, the process where employees pick up new skills and enhance current ones, has been around for some time now. However, as Covid-19 wreaks havoc and as we prepare for life and business after it, skills development is more relevant than ever before.
The use of technology has been a saving grace for a number of sectors, responding to the needs of businesses and organisations battling to survive. Organisations need to take a leap and embrace technological advancements currently shaping the world’ economy – e-commerce, e-government and e-learning, among others.
It is a pity that our local economy has been battered by business closures and, sadly, some of them will never re-open. Many industries are doing their best to deliver services virtually or through alternate means. Through these troubled times, our resilience shines through and once again demonstrates our resolve to help each other in this great time of need.
Our public institutions, including tertiary institutions and universities, are showing their resilience by adapting to the new reality and looking to the future. Post-secondary education is as busy as it has ever been – instructors are still teaching, students and employees are still learning.
Through this crisis, we have learned that a variety of skill sets and roles are essential to upholding essential services. We need more access to technology; we need innovative small- and medium-business owners.
As our nation faces immeasurable challenges, such as youth unemployment resulting from the mismatch between the graduates the universities and tertiary institutions churn out and the skills the current job market actually needs, the coronavirus has unleashed one of the biggest blows to any prospects of prosperity.
The importance of a healthy skills ethos across the nation cannot be emphasised enough. It is not just the responsibility of our sector, schools and universities to ensure our future workforce is equipped with the requisite skills. We are all responsible for the country’s skill development.
For example, at the Fibre Processing nd Manufacturing Sector Education and Training Authority (FPM Seta), we are cognisant that the greatest skills deficiencies are not simple shortages, but significant skills gaps, where people are not trained to the necessary level or do not have the range of basic skills essential to the workforce.
With the skills agenda being a critical part of government policy and increasingly critical to the productivity and competitiveness agenda, it is not enough to let it be set almost entirely by the government. Employer leadership and ownership of the skills agenda is essential.
While skills development has become an imperative for employers to harness the power of the latest digital technologies, there are also advantages for employees.
By Felleng Yende, CEO of the Fibre Processing and Manufacturing Seta.
The Star