Salesforce, the global leader in CRM, today published its Global Digital Skills Index revealing a growing global digital skills crisis and the urgent need for action.
The Index is based on over 23,500 global respondents in 19 countries, including 1,294 workers in Ireland, reporting on their readiness to acquire the key digital skills needed by business today and over the next five years. Over two-thirds (69%) don’t feel equipped to learn the digital skills needed by businesses now and over three-quarters (76%) don’t feel equipped for the future.
Asked about how they feel about the rate of technological change in the workplace, 34% of Irish workers reported feeling ‘overwhelmed’, while a quarter (25%) said they were ‘fearful’. Despite these concerns, only 28% are very actively involved in digital skills learning and training programs.
Zahra Bahrololoumi, UKI CEO, Salesforce, said: “Reskilling is clearly a national priority and we all have a responsibility to help people navigate learning and equip them to seize the opportunities of a digital-first future. By using our scale, ecosystem, and resources as a platform for change, we can provide alternative pathways to training, often free and online, to ensure that our increasingly connected world stands for success across all of society.”
The global digital skills gap
This gap is a concern – but it also presents an opportunity. With companies around the world rapidly transitioning to digital-first models, the demand for employees with digital skills has soared. The Salesforce Index’s overall global score for digital readiness, assessed in terms of preparedness, skill level, access, and active participation in digital up-skilling, is currently only 33 out of 100, highlighting an urgent need for global investment to close the digital skills gap. Ireland scores a total of 28 out of 100.
The countries represented in the survey ranged from 63 to 15, highlighting that while certain countries feel more digitally ready than others, there is an urgent need for global investment to close the digital skills gap and build a more inclusive workforce.
Emerging nations are most confident about digital readiness
Respondents in emerging nations India, Mexico and Brazil are more confident than those in developed nations about their digital future. India has the Index’s highest digital readiness score (63 out of 100), with 76% of respondents in India feel equipped today for a digital skills-led workplace and 69% are actively learning new digital skills.
RAND Europe’s recent The Global Digital Skills Gap report indicates that certain countries will be more impacted by the digital skills gap than others, depending on their economic structure, industries and labor distribution. Concerns of higher risk may be driving a bigger, faster commitment to digital education — India’s digital skills gap has the greatest GDP growth risk at an average of 2.3% every year, followed by Mexico at 1.8% GDP. The United Kingdom and Australia, on the other hand, sit at just 0.5%.
Everyday digital skills don't translate to the workplace
Everyday skills such as social media and web navigation don’t necessarily translate to the core workplace digital skills needed by business to drive recovery, resilience and growth.
More than two thirds of all global Gen Z respondents (64%) say they have ‘advanced’ social media skills — supporting the stereotype of digital mastery among the younger generation — but less than a third (31%) believe they have the ‘advanced’ digital workplace skills needed by businesses now.
While the vast majority of respondents in North America (83%), Europe (82%), and Asia-Pacific (70%) have ‘advanced’ or ‘intermediate’ social media skills, only a third in each (31%, 24%, and 34%, respectively) feel prepared for the workplace digital skills needed over the next five years.
The most important digital skills needed by businesses today
According to the Salesforce Index, skills in collaboration technology like Slack are viewed as the most important skills needed by businesses today and over the next five years - 69% of Irish respondents say this. But despite respondents’ prowess with everyday collaboration technology like social media, only 26% rate themselves ‘advanced’ in those collaboration technology skills needed specifically for the workplace.
Reskilling the workforce
Over half of Irish respondents (53%) want to learn new skills to help them grow their career. By harnessing the potential of existing workforces, businesses can speed progress towards closing their skills gaps.
The Index also reveals that younger respondents have greater confidence and ambition to learn new skills — globally 83% of Gen Z respondents are ‘actively’ learning and training for skills needed over the next five years compared to 12% of Baby Boomers. Businesses have a major opportunity to nurture young talent by providing tailored, ‘always on’ training that will help drive growth and innovation, increase equity and engagement and create strong leaders for the future.
Business has a critical role to play
Now more than ever, businesses have a responsibility to act to address the growing global skills gap. Salesforce is committed to investing in the future workforce through our diverse set of workforce development programs, including:
