EXCLUSIVE: Nesta shows upskilling for the future will underpin employee engagement

Employee Benefits Connect 2020: Ksenia Zheltoukhova, director of research operations, research, analysis and policy at Nesta opened up the conference today (26 February 2020) with an insight into empowering employees to progress through to the jobs of the future.

In her opening keynote session at Employee Benefits Connect 2020, Zheltoukhova (pictured), explained the importance for employers to create a pathway for staff to progress, and positioning these learning opportunities as part of the overall employment proposition.

She said: "The single most important thing in today's job market is helping employees find a pathway to a job to excel in the market. There are more data sets today that can help people navigate their way in the job market of the future."

Zheltoukhva drew upon Nesta's research, which found that one in five (20%) UK individuals are in jobs that will shrink by 2030, while seven in 10 (70%) are in jobs with an uncertain future.

She added: "We know through our research what skills will be required for the future job market, and find that 54% of jobs will require excessive re-skilling by 2022. Employers can today utilise big data to understand the people and skills in demand for the future."

Zheltoukhva explained that learning and upskilling should be seen as essential to the employee value proposition, as engaging staff now will increasingly hinge on providing them with a sense that they will be able to achieve job success in the future.

She went on to outline Nesta's plans to create more data sets, providing an effective platform for employees to create their own training to subsequently put themselves in a much stronger positioning in the job market of the future.

Zheltoukhva said: "When utilising data sets to aid employees on their career journey, it may not be possible to create a pathway for them, but to set the foundations to equip them in the best way possible.

"People are unaware of their job loss chances; edging into that awareness gap and informing that their jobs could be at risk is a good thing. Employees will always have skills or fragments of skills that can move them forward in their jobs."