UK faces up to technology skills deficit

Technology skills shortages are continuing to affect all sectors, according to two separate reports published last week.

Global technology firms face a battle to find, retain and manage staff with the skills they need, according to an Economist Intelligence Unit report published by consultancy Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC).

And a report from spending watchdog the National Audit Office (NAO) says the Army is desperately short of IT systems engineers. The Royal Signals branch suffers from a 25 per cent shortfall in skilled technology staff.

A rejoin bounty of £6,000 for leavers returning to the service helped push up recruitment rates in 2004, but numbers are slipping again, says the NAO.

The PwC report says industry employees who are talented, technically savvy and able to collaborate, innovate and manage change, are hard to find.

And the problem will get worse. Some 45 per cent of respondents say IT talent is scarce, but in three years’ time that figure will rise to 66 per cent.

‘Competition for talent has never been fiercer and there is likely to be another industry talent war if demand grows,’ said PwC director Graham Wyllie.

‘Technology executives must upgrade human capital management and create innovative programmes to attract and retain the best people,’ he said.

Many companies have looked abroad for skilled staff. But overseas talent can no longer be relied on. In emerging markets, 41 per cent of technology firms indicate difficulty in finding technical talent and 48 per cent report problems in retaining it.

‘The more technical roles are going offshore and then going offshore again and it’s becoming almost like a Mexican wave,’ said Karen Price, chief executive of sector skills body eSkills UK.

‘All economies should be looking at the kind of skills they need to develop,’ she said.

Problems arise because IT is not a mature profession, according to John Eary, head of staff consultancy at NCC Group.

‘There has been a chronic shortage of IT project managers for some time and there is a chronic problem in career development,’ said Eary. ‘There is a need for planning of long-term requirements and skills.’

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