UK – Talent mismatch costs more than £1bn to employers

Businesses from all the major economies, including the UK, are losing billions of pounds through recruitment errors. This is mainly caused by employees’ inability to adapt and retrain for new roles and industries. 

PwC and LinkedIn released the study, Adapt to Survive, this week. It looks at a profile of 277 million professionals and 2,600 employers across 11 global markets. It attributes each market with a talent adaptability score, based on the country’s ability to cope with future shifts in the market and measured by employees’ transferrable skills.

The UK ranks second for talent adaptability, but still loses over £1.2 billion through employees not willing or able to adapt to new sectors. It fares relatively well because of a large base of skilled workers, especially in London. The Netherlands has the highest adaptability rating, mostly down to the language skills of its workforce.

The study suggests £96 billion is lost globally each year through a lack of talent adaptability, with less mature markets such as China and India faring the worst. China loses over £65 billion every year through its low talent adaptability, and India over £8.5 billion. This is attributed to a small number of sectors dominating the economy and high net migration figures meaning they lose millions of skilled workers every year.

via HR Magazine – Talent mismatch costs UK companies more than £1bn.

Related articles

• Ontario / Skills Gaps costs are high and they affect major sectors says The Conference Board
• Canada / Skills gap top barrier to competitiveness says Chamber of Commerce
• The Skills Gap in US – Mismatch across industries and occupations explains at most one-third of the total observed increase in the unemployment rate
• IT Skills Gap in Europe / Skills mismatches and occupational shifts have worsenedUS / Mismatch increased during the Great Recession finds FRBSL
• US / What explains the yawning gap between jobs open and jobs filled?
• US / Long- term unemployment spans all industries, education levels, age groups, and among blue- and white-collar workers
• US / Long-term unemployment has less impact on the behavior of wages study says
• US / The unique importance of UI for today’s unemployed workers