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Latest e-skills UK ICT inquiry identifies key concerns of UK businesses

e-skills UK, the Sector Skills Council for Business and Information Technology, has published the latest issue of the ICT Inquiry, reporting on the results from our survey of UK businesses carried out during the first quarter of 2009.

As well as providing an update on the demand and supply of IT/Telecoms skills, this ICT Inquiry looks in detail at the effect of the economic downturn – reporting on the concerns and likely actions to be taken by employers as a result.

Key findings in this issue include:

• During the first quarter of the year, companies were most concerned about the strength of the pound, the cost of supplies, legislative changes, availability of credit and levels of consumer demand.
• In response to the economic downturn, around nine in ten firms thought it ‘fairly’ or ‘very’ likely that they would review or reduce costs over the coming year.
• Almost one quarter of firms anticipated a decrease in their overall headcount over the coming year, though around nine out of ten firms forecast that the number of IT/Telecoms staff employed would remain unchanged.
• One fifth of companies anticipated a decrease in bonuses/other benefits for IT/Telecoms staff, while a similar number expected the budget for recruitment/ salaries to diminish over the year.
• Around two fifths of firms had recruited staff during the final quarter of 2008, and of these almost one quarter had been seeking to fill IT/Telecoms positions.
• Around one in six IT/Telecoms recruiters were experiencing difficulties recruiting staff with the right skills, qualifications or experience, with the business skills of applicants most often thought to be below the level needed.
• Amongst those employers with vacancies for other staff (i.e. outside of the IT function) the IT user skills of applicants were generally felt to be equal to/above the level needed of them, though almost one third of recruiters stated that the database and spreadsheet skills of candidates were below the level required.
• Almost one quarter of firms with IT/Telecoms staff stated that they were experiencing ICT-related skills gaps, whilst around one in six firms considered the IT user skills of other staff to be at a level below that needed of them.
• Virtually all those surveyed said spending on training for IT/Telecoms professionals would increase, or at least stay the same over the coming year.

The ICT Inquiry is based upon the findings of over 2,000 interviews with key decision makers from UK businesses, carried out between February and March 2009. All data has been weighted to national estimates to ensure that findings are representative of the wider economy.

A free copy of the survey results can be downloaded by going to
www.e-skills.com/ictinquiry, where you can also subscribe for future issues of this, and other publications, produced by our research team.

 

Posted on 19 Jun 2009