UK skills are rarely out of the spotlight — ever since Tony Blair promised to prioritise “education, education, education”, the government’s done everything skills-related in triplicate, to the extent that it’s created a skills ‘quangocracy‘.
The UK Commission for Employment and Skills, chaired by BT’s Sir Michael Rake, aims to simplify matters and subsume other skills bodies, in line with the Leitch Review recommendations.
The good news for employers is that the best of the Sector Skills Councils look set to stay — if they pass muster. Meanwhile, the UKCES will set about improving the ‘employability’ skills of new recruits.
According to an Institute of Directors briefing, only 25 per cent of IoD members — board-level executives — feel young people are employment-ready.
Most are happy with new recruits’ technical skills, but 64 per cent say employability skills are more important.
These include the not-especially challenging ’skills’ of honesty and integrity, basic literacy, reliability, punctuality, numeracy and co-operation. Yet they are deteriorating, according to UKCES chief executive Chris Humphries.
Employers complain that young recruits have a bad attitude to work, they cannot communicate clearly, work in teams or get to work on time.
But some of their complaints are just daft. If a new recruit’s not wearing appropriate clothes, why not just lay down the law? How are newbies supposed to know that you never let the phone ring more than three times unless someone tells them? Given the skills shortages facing businesses, doling out a few tips on telephone manner to an otherwise qualified new starter is hardly a chore.
No-one hits the ground running. If employers want a particular type of work etiquette observed, they should explain the ground rules on the first day. Even better, draw up a simple policy. No matter what size your business, clear policies on the structural stuff — time-keeping, dress code, how to answer the phone — make life easier for everyone.
Gen Y may be re-shaping the workplace, but they are still ready to learn.
