Workers say finding people with the right skills is biggest issue this year

Over half of workers (53 percent) believe that getting the right people with the right skills will be the biggest issue faced by their workplace in the year ahead. This is according to research published by Acas today, which commissioned YouGov to find out what UK employees identified as the most important workplace issues in the year ahead. The other two top issues identified were technological change (36 percent) and productivity (36 percent). Other issues identified by participants in the poll included fit and healthy staff (18 percent) and Equality and Fairness (17 percent).  Acas Chief Exec, Susan Clews, said: “Employees feel that getting workers with the right skills is a key concern in the year ahead. This could be attributed to uncertainty around our relationship with the EU at the moment or general concerns around skills shortages.

Acas published research in 2017 which revealed how technological advances at work can have wide ranging and often overlooked implications for employment relations and health and wellbeing:

Said Clews: “Technological change is also on people’s minds and we have found that if it is not managed well then it can cause stress and impact workplace relations. It is unsurprising that productivity continues to be a top concern in UK workplaces. We believe a well-managed and innovative workplace that encourages employee engagement can help improve the UK’s low productivity and make the most of people’s skills.”

Acas has done a lot of work on the UK’s productivity puzzle with advice and a diagnostic tool for organisations. For more information, please visit: www.acas.org.uk/productivity