Tag: Training

The skills delusion

Adair Turner, Chairman of INET (Institute for New Economic Thinking) and one-time Chairman of the UK’s FSA (Financial Services Authority) wrote a weighty article a year or so ago on the need for more investment in our human stock We cannot better his choice of words so, below, reproduce much of his article verbatim It …

Continue reading

AI will automate tasks, not skills

Michael Hicks, Professor of Economics at Ball State University, USA, claims productivity growth, whether through automation, plant design or better-skilled workers, doesn’t kill jobs – it eliminates tasks: First, hard, dirty and dangerous ones – think agriculture and steel-making where output continues to grow in volume but now uses a small fraction of the labour …

Continue reading

‘Silver Army’ advances

Excerpts follow from an article about the advancing ‘Silver Army’ by Gary Rotstein in the Pittsburgh post-gazette The future of older workers During a recent three-day presentation at Columbia University, a succession of speakers from academia and the business and health fields focused on the potential productivity of older workers who can help the economy and …

Continue reading

Freelancing is good for many

Freelance employment should be used much more by most organisations in sectors which: Need certain specialist skills, but not on a full-time basis Have fluctuating demand patterns making employment of a full-time workforce to supply in good time prohibitively expensive Using freelance labour (say 20% part-time, 80% full-time) is much like outsourcing some processes – …

Continue reading

UK skills shortages

Carolyn Fairbairn, Director General of the CBI (Confederation of British Industry) claims it is ‘absolutely vital’ that UK businesses have access to migrant workkers from the EU ‘to mitigate intense workforce pressures’ Otherwise, British businesses and employers would no longer be able to compete – firms would be unable to get the staff they need …

Continue reading

Train in what employers need, not what employees like

According to a report by the OECD – Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development – and the University of Warwick Institute for Employment Research: “Many employees say their skills are not used effectively at work” Encouraging employers  to make the most of their employees’ skills can improve productivity, reduce inequality and contribute to economic growth …

Continue reading

Knowledge ladders

All animals, humans included, are born with a brain within which resides an instinctive control system, ticking away 24/ 7 much like a Microsoft operating system This subconscious system controls most of what we need to survive and protect ourselves, procreate, feel pain and pleasure It also stores knowledge acquired by learning by rote and practice …

Continue reading

UK management skills lacking

Alexandra Frean, a business columnist of The Times, claims: “The most accessible solution to Britain’s low-productivity problem is the presence in virtually every workplace of accidental managers” i.e. people who are promoted to positions quite different to past jobs where they did well She says they cannot be thrown in at the deep end – …

Continue reading

Robots to transform Education

An article in The Times reported that Anthony Seldon, former headmaster of Wellington College, UK, believes: “The imminent arrival of robot teachers will herald the greatest revolution in education” “Personalised learning, facilitated by artificial intelligence, will mean that every student from Eton to the most deprived school in Blackpool, will receive education of a standard …

Continue reading

Skills mismatches, training failures

A report by the IPPR – Institute of Public Policy Research – claims the number of  over-educated UK workers has increased by a third over the past decade – companies are failing to make use of their skills There is also a mismatch between employees’ training and what employers find useful And yet: “About a quarter of …

Continue reading