Technology skills shortage is an issue that spans industries as companies everywhere digitally transform to prepare for a data-driven future. Companies are already realising the effects of skills shortage. The Talent gap is not only hampering companies’ digital programs but causing them to lose competitive advantage.
Most companies, especially those in the technology industry, have been fishing from the same small pond for talent. Investing in minority talent – the fastest growing segments of the U.S. labor force – will be crucial to attaining success. Companies have started diving into the sea of talent traditionally underrepresented in tech, such as women, minorities, and other groups who have largely been excluded from the industry to-date.
Research findings indicate that racially diverse skill groups are much more creative and faster in their decision-making than homogeneous groups. Some organizations are identifying new-age Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) programs to tackle this issue. For instance, companies are using a series of immersive and interactive elements to empower people on how to mitigate unconscious bias in their everyday lives.
The potential of emerging technologies in D&I program implementation is promising. Leveraging artificial intelligence to screen resumes can remove cues that may unfairly influence the process – like a non-traditional name or where the applicant is based. AI and VR technologies can help reduce bias, but if not designed effectively, they can also further embed and scale bias.
Reskilling frameworks have started playing a vital role in achieving the core agenda of D&I programs. Although automation has created innovation in the workplace, it is also displacing millions of workers in low-skill jobs. These jobs include office support, logistics, and customer service roles that were majorly held by minority groups. Learning modules can help these minority workers develop the digital literacy needed to attain the transition towards tech roles. Such transitions could lead to revolutionary pathways for historically marginalized workers in a competitive talent economy.
Draup’s Talent Intelligence Platform thus advocates the reskilling of in-house workforce for organizations across industries and functions. It further facilitates these reskilling initiatives with its unique ‘reskill navigator’ and ‘path predictor’ features and thus enables organizations to address their skill gap challenges. Draup’s cost-benefit analysis model further estimates that reskilling an existing employee to be 22% cheaper than hiring a new employee.
