Alan Banks, managing director of Netbuilder, reports on the latest UKAuthority Inform research into the digital skills gap in public services
A shortage of digital, data and technology (DDaT) skills has been a longstanding headache for the public sector, with a sense that it is frustrating ambitions to harness the full potential of new technologies.
It also has financial consequences, with a reliance on support from suppliers and consultancies coming at a significant cost and often only providing a short term fix.
This status quo feeds into a need to build sustainable in-house skills, but this is a daunting challenge when public authorities struggle to match the salaries paid by big entities in the private sector, and there are often shortcomings in arrangements for knowledge transfer with contracts for digital products and services.
This is a big issue for public services, having prompted UKAuthority and Netbuilder to carry out a research project into the factors in the skills gap and how it can be filled.
It involved a survey of UKAuthority readers on some of the key issues, UKA Live discussions and two roundtables of public sector leaders who have significant experience of dealing with the relevant issues. While highlighting the problems, it also shows there is scope for organisations to considerably strengthen their in-house capabilities. (Download paper here)
Knowledge transfer failure
A key finding was that there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that transfer of expertise is often not delivered as promised. This is partly because it is not in the interests of the consultants to do so, and even if there is a genuine effort, often the technical experts do not have the training skills or temperament to teach others.
In addition, there are other demands on the time of public sector employees – the tyranny of ‘business as usual’ – and it can take time to demonstrate that in-house staff have really mastered the skills for long term use.
It points towards a need to build digital, data and technology skills in-house. When asked in the survey, 70% of respondents said that they would prefer this rather than using consultants (just 9%) or taking other approaches (20%), and they identified a range of skills they felt were needed in-house, including data science and architecture, automation, project management, cloud management and security.
The research brought out measures that can be taken to make this possible. It begins with building a clear picture of the existing skills in an organisation, an understanding of those required to deliver long term organisational goals, the capabilities of employees who could develop the skills, and the capacity to train them at speed.
This can be followed by ensuring that budgets are available by making recruitment and training key elements of investment cycles that run over the longest term possible. It is best not to be too prescriptive as precise demands for digital skills will change as technologies evolve, but ensuring that money is there is advance will help to ease the pressures.
Toolkits and career paths
Internal measures can include the provision of toolkits for employees to assess their personal skills and identify paths for career development within the organisation. This can come with the development of career paths for staff that incorporate acquiring skills and continuous professional development.
Organisations should allow scope for people to learn on the job, not just in performing tasks but taking some time to read and research what a digital solution can deliver or how other organisations have overcome similar challenges.
Low code technology – which enables the configuration of digital services without in-depth coding skills – can also play a role. An effort to identify employees with the right mindset and grasp of service processes to harness its potential can make a significant contribution to filling the gap.
These steps should come with an attention to the soft, non-technical skills in communication and engagement with people, documenting business requirements and providing the leadership to get the best out of others and achieve the desired outcomes. ‘Techies’ are not always the best at communicating with their colleagues, and they need also to understand what others in their organisations need to achieve and work with them to make it possible.
Of course, attracting the right people to join the organisation is also an important factor. It can often work well to bring in people early in their careers, working with universities to attract graduates with relevant qualifications, often through providing work experience as part of their courses.
Salary squeeze
But there is no denying that the salary issue will continue to provide a major barrier to recruitment and retention of people with the right skills. There is little sign of the financial squeeze on public services being eased and no realistic hope of salaries matching those in many private sector organisations.
This could be mitigated to an extent through the adoption of pay structures to acknowledge the value of digital specialists, and those who can combined technical knowledge with managerial skills. It will also rely on the traditional approach of using the ethos of working for the public good to attract digital specialists who are looking for more than financial rewards in their jobs.
None of this will be easy and the factors will be influenced by the specific priorities and dynamics of individual organisations. But the research showed that there are ways of finding the right people and helping them to develop the necessary skills, and a positive approach can help to build the in-house capability for the long term.
UKAuthority and Netbuilder have produced a white paper on the issues outlined above – Bridging the public sector’s digital skills gap – or download via the button below.
DOWNLOAD PAPER
