Employability skills. Appendix D

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1 Employability skills Employability skills are a set of attributes, skills and knowledge that all labour market participants should possess to ensure they have the capability of being effective in the workplace to the benefit of themselves, their employer and the wider economy. The employability debate has been raging for some time. Employers are demanding the right skills to meet the ever changing needs of today s global economy and this has become something of a war cry. At a national level we have the Leitch agenda leading a policy focus on skills and organisations such as the Sector Skills Councils and the UK Commission for Employment and Skills to help employers articulate their needs. One very clear message is that, above all else, employers want people coming into the workforce who are literate, numerate and communicate well. Attitude is also important employers want people to turn up on time and show enthusiasm and commitment. During their first five years of employment, employers are prepared to invest in people to help them develop more sophisticated work related skills, but very few appear to be prepared to give candidates an entry level job unless they have the basics. Indeed, a lack of communication, literacy and numeracy appears to be a significant barrier to people entering the workforce, with only a substantial minority of employers reporting that they can always find people with the right skills for their business. Since the publication of the Leitch Review there has been a sharper policy focus on helping people develop the skills that are demanded by employers. Further education colleges have been encouraged to deliver vocational training, national campaigns have urged people to improve their skills and new initiatives such as Skills Brokers have been helping employers to identify their training needs and access provision. Employment within the volume sectors of Retail, Construction, Health & Social Care, Logistics and the Public Sector is predicted to grow by 65,000 jobs (20%) by Generic Employability Skills Employability skills include: Self management readiness to accept responsibility, flexibility, resilience, self starting, appropriate assertiveness, time management, readiness to improve own performance based on feedback/reflective learning. Teamworking respecting others, co operating, negotiating/persuading, contributing to discussions, and awareness of interdependence with others. 1

2 Business and customer awareness basic understanding of the key drivers for business success, including the importance of innovation and taking calculated risks and the need to provide customer satisfaction and build customer loyalty. Problem solving analysing facts and situations and applying creative thinking to develop appropriate solutions. Communication and literacy application of literacy, ability to produce clear, structured written work and oral literacy including listening and questioning. Application of numeracy manipulation of numbers, general mathematical awareness and its application in practical contexts (e.g. measuring, weighing, estimating and applying formulae). Application of information technology basic IT skills, including familiarity with word processing, spreadsheets, file management and use of internet search engines. Underpinning all these attributes, the key foundation, must be a positive attitude: a 'can do' approach, a readiness to take part and contribute, openness to new ideas and a drive to make these happen. Employers do not expect advanced vocational job specific skills to be fully developed but this does not mean that they have no expectation of these skills at all in candidates. The clear majority of employers expect all of the identified skills to be at least partially developed in a candidate for them to be employable. There are several key differences in views presented as between service industries and manufacturing. Rather than placing communication skills first, manufacturing employers placed literacy as the most important, followed closely by numeracy, with communication skills third. General IT skills also provided a point of difference. They were ranked eighth by manufacturing while service industries ranked them tenth, placing personal presentation and customer care skills ahead of them. Vocational Employability Skills Retail Formal qualifications are not essential to enter the industry as retailers train people internally to the skills levels required. Across the South West, 51% of managers and senior officials do not have an NVQ Level 3 (or equivalent). Retail has traditionally been a major source of entry level positions, which can provide valuable job opportunities for those who have been out of work for some time. 13% of 2

3 retail workers hold no qualifications but retail is a good incubator for employability skills. Greater emphasis is placed on employability skills with employers valuing people skills, a positive attitude and good interpersonal skills. Individuals who have transferable experience in customer service would be well placed to enter the sector and can receive training once in the sector. Construction The construction sector has two main means of acquiring the labour and skills it needs: 1. Through younger entrants recruited via educational institutions/ Apprenticeships and both younger and older entrants who enter the workforce whether formally qualified or not. 2. Through the training and qualification of existing workers. The sector fails to recruit women and ethnic minorities, limiting the intake of new recruits and potentially fuelling the skills gap. Basic skills remain a concern. Construction employers surveyed as part of CITB s 2010 survey expressed concern with the basic numeracy skills (38%) and literacy skills (51%) of their current workforce. Concerns about IT skills were even higher (73%). With the development of technical processes, tools and computer aided devises this skill gap needs to be addressed. The majority of construction employers believe the industry most requires trade skills. 88% of employers highly value STEM skills and report that they need more people with STEM qualifications. Construction firms anticipate significant difficulties finding the technological, engineering and scientific employees to meet demand three quarters (76%) expect difficulty at some level. There are anticipated problems finding technicians (48%), experienced employees (42%) and graduate talent (42%). Level 1 vocational qualifications do not meet the minimum requirements that the construction industry expects of its new entrants. Compounding this, there is limited progression from Level 1 to Level 2. There is concern about the volume of entrants to Level 1 courses approximately one third of entrants are on Level 1 courses, which presents a particular concern given that training capacity is at a premium and the minimum industry requirement is Level 2. 25% of the construction workforce are skilled below Level 2 in the South West. There exists a shortage of employers willing to offer work experience to trainees. Small firms find it difficult to engage with the Apprenticeship programme process, finding it too cumbersome. Apprentices over the age of 19 are only part funded, which is creating a major barrier to 19+ learners entering the construction industry. Demand for older apprentices currently outstrips supply. 3

4 Health & Social Care The health sector is highly qualified with 57% of the workforce in the South West holding qualifications equivalent to NVQ Level 4 or above. 32% of the social care workforce in the South West has at least NVQ Level 2 and 46% have no relevant qualifications. The take up of apprenticeships in the West of England is low (6%). Social care in particular is frequently perceived as only being for women and as a sector with low skilled jobs. However, health & social care provides flexible working conditions which can fit around employees lifestyles. Once you enter the sector there are good opportunities for progression and in house training. Formal qualifications are not necessarily needed to enter the social care sector. Employers are increasingly seeking employability skills alongside qualifications and such skills are becoming more important in jobs over time. There has been a large increase in generic skills required in the health and social care sector, particularly in relatively lower status jobs. Attitude, skills and experience are highly regarded and can be sufficient to gain a job in the sector. Once employed in the sector you are able to access in house training. Some employers focus on key skills and support people to achieve Level 2. With Direct Payments giving people control over their care there will be a rise in the need for Personal Assistants who currently do not need any previous experience or training in order to enter this role. Key skills for this workforce are rapport, flexibility and willingness to carry out a very wide range of tasks, often to very specific and individual requirements. Logistics Across the logistics sector, applicants not having the necessary skills is the most commonly cited reason for hard to fill vacancies, along with a lack of people interested in a logistics job. Skills that are hard to find from those with an interest in a job include technical, practical or job specific skills, customer handling skills and oral communication skills. Soft skills are also reported as lacking in employees. A significant number of the workforce are lacking functional literacy and numeracy skills, according to a report from Skills for Logistics. Skills in short supply include driving skills, management skills, and skills involved in working with other members of the workforce and with customers (teamworking, customer handling, communication skills). Skills gaps are concentrated amongst drivers and low skilled workers in the industry. 4

5 Conclusion Employers are currently less likely to be recruiting and where they are, filling vacancies is unlikely to be a problem as there is a larger pool of short term unemployed candidates. However it is vital to ensure that workless clients are not pushed further back from the labour market by newly out of work candidates, thus increasing the likelihood of generational unemployment. On a strictly economic argument it makes sense to make full use of the resource, which is wasted by having someone not working as much in times of growth as in times of recession. Entry level jobs will continue to grow over the next 20 years and we need to ensure the workless population within the West of England is best placed to access these jobs, by ensuring focused provision is targeted at priority areas. It is not sensible from a business perspective to have labour shortages in areas which are physically next to areas with a high concentration of worklessness as is the case for example in the centre of Bristol. Basic skill requirements for all jobs are: Communication and literacy (including listening and questioning). Application of numeracy (manipulation of numbers in practical contexts) Application of information technology (increasing technology such as tills) Self management (flexibility, resilience, self starting, time management) Teamworking (respecting others, co operating, negotiating/persuading) Business and customer awareness (basic understanding of the key drivers for business success) Problem solving These skills need to be embedded in all vocational courses to ensure leavers are best prepared in an increasingly competitive employment market. Within the volume sectors most important are the generic employability skills as listed above with the exception of: Construction: - improve progression from Level 1 to Level 2 - improve employer engagement to increase apprenticeships - improve focus on STEM & ICT skills Logistics - Driving Skills 5

6 Data Sources Learning Skills Network, 2008 CBI Skills Priorities for the Retail Sector in the UK and its Four Nations, Skillsmart Retail, 2010 Jobs of the Future, Building Britain s Future, HM Government, September 2009 LMI, ConstructionSkills Network South West Skills Issues in the Construction Sector in the West of England, BMG Research, July 2007 Skills for Health LMI Briefing for the South West of England, 2009 The State of the Adult Social Care Workforce in England, Skills for Care, May 2010 The Logistics Sector Skills Assessment, England Report. Skills for Logistics, Skills issues in the transportation sector in the West of England; BMG Research, July