Overwhelming Skills Crisis in Financial Services say 84% HR Leaders

Research commissioned by people analytics company @Visier reveals that the majority of UK HR leaders in financial services companies (84 per cent) believe their business is facing a skills issue. More than half (56 percent) think that the current workforce requires more skills training than the workforce of ten years ago, but as many as two-thirds (67 percent) say that a lack of available candidates is holding back their company’s digital transformation strategy.

HR leaders also do not believe there is a quick fix, estimating that the skills crisis will not be solved for 3.5 years. 

As many as 86 percent of HR leaders revealed that their employer could have done more over the last 12 months to support workers. Whereas 77% of FS workers said they felt supported during the pandemic, suggesting employees either don’t expect the support they deserve or HR leaders are seeing problems arise before employees recognise them. The same number of HR leaders also said it would be easier for them to create a better culture if they had more insight into workforce behaviours and attitudes.

This impact is clearly being felt by employees. The research found that more than half of financial services workers in the UK expect to actively look for jobs outside their current company in the next 12 months – with almost a quarter (24 percent) already looking for new jobs. And more than half (55 percent) admitted that they are worried that their career will stall if they do not develop more skills.

“The financial services industry is sitting on a skills ticking time bomb. As financial services companies settle into their new ways of working, whether that is remote, office-based or a hybrid approach, they can’t afford to overlook the biggest threat to their ability to grow – skills. It should be a wake up call to the industry to see that a huge proportion of HR teams believe the industry’s skills shortage is holding back mission-critical transformation,” said Daniel Mason, Vice President EMEA of Visier. 

“To keep up with customers’ constantly increasing expectations for digital services, and to retain current talented employees, businesses need full insight into their staff’s capabilities and identify where gaps need to be filled. Investing in learning opportunities and upskilling current employees will reduce churn and boost competitiveness.”