According to the recent survey of the Service Sector Employers’ Association Palta, the shortage of skilled employees will get worse in the future. Regardless of the COVID-19 pandemic, the availability of skilled workforce will be a significant or extremely significant obstacle to growth already within the three following years according to one third of the respondent service companies.
The survey reveals that the pandemic has also permanently changed the skills required in the service sectors. Nearly 90% of respondents think that the changes in the skills needs are partly or to a significant extent permanent. Particularly the capacity to adapt to change and use digital and AI-based solutions has been emphasised.
Nearly 90% of respondents think that the changes in the skills needs are partly or to a significant extent permanent.
In the coming years, it might be that the skills of the current employees are no longer needed. After three years, there will be need for the skills of all the current employees only in 58% of the respondent companies. On average, 5% of the skills of employees working in the respondent companies are no longer needed after three years. Employees are lacking, for example, different digital skills and working life skills, such as self-management and self-development.
“The survey shows that a significant part of the changes brought about by the pandemic are permanent. This must be considered also in our education system: what kinds of working life and basic skills are taught in the comprehensive schools, what kinds of continuous learning routes and education contents are offered,” says Tatu Rauhamäki, Director, Industrial Policy at Palta.
“The serious skills mismatch between the companies’ needs and employees skills is already an obstacle for the increase of employment, and the survey shows that this mismatch will be getting worse in the future. This problem should be addressed immediately.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has created new tasks, but employee training has become more difficult
The COVID-19 pandemic has created new tasks in the service sectors. In less than a year, new tasks mainly based on the growth of digitalisation have been created in 6% of the respondent companies. Furthermore, every sixth respondent has been able to avoid terminations and layoffs by transferring employees to new tasks inside the company.
However, there have been obstacles in the employee training in half of the companies. The most important obstacles have been the switch to remote working and the mobility restrictions set by the authorities, which were obstacles for training in 27% of the respondent organisations.
However, new ways of training the employees have also been found. Of the staff training organised by the company, 57% has been transferred online. In addition, employers have, for example, encouraged their employees to study by themselves and utilised apprenticeship training and online courses provided by educational institutions.
“Although the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the service sectors hard, companies have adapted to the situation surprisingly well. However, obstacles observed in training and discontinuation of training has also given rise for concern. It is important to safeguard the opportunities for development of competence, especially now,” says Rauhamäki.
“Although the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the service sectors hard, companies have adapted to the situation surprisingly well.”
Palta is proposing several solutions for improving the availability of skilled workforce. The cooperation between companies and educational institutions should be reinforced, and the funding of institutions should also encourage this. Resources should be allocated to the learning of the adult population and the up-to-dateness of continuous learning routes and contents should be ensured. Continuous learning services should be centralised in one joint digital service that utilises AI and EU recovery funding should be allocated for this. In addition, labour-related migration must be facilitated by adopting the D visa, which aims to smooth the recruitment of top professionals arriving from outside the EU and is under preparation, in Finland as soon as possible.
The Skills needs after the COVID-19 pandemic survey was conducted among Palta’s members 7–22 January 2021. The survey was responded to by 112 HR managers and managing directors. The respondent companies employ nearly 30,000 people and operate in several different service sectors: the transportation and logistics, information and communications, business and expert services, administration and support services, technical services, entertainment and recreation sectors as well as other service sectors. Private services employ more than a million people in Finland.
In brief:
- Nearly 90% of respondents think that the changes in the skills needs are partly or to a significant extent permanent.
- After three years, there is need for the skills of all the current employees only in 58% of the respondent companies. On average, 5% of the skills of employees working in the respondent companies are no longer needed after three years.
- Regardless of the COVID-19 pandemic, the availability of skilled workforce is a significant or extremely significant obstacle to growth already within the three following years according to 33% of the respondent service companies.
- There have been obstacles in the employee training in half of companies during the pandemic.
- Palta is proposing several solutions for improving the availability of skilled workforce: The cooperation between companies and educational institutions must be reinforced by directing funding, continuous learning services and contents must be developed and labour-related immigration must be facilitated.
