The shortage of people in the UK with IT skills is hardly news. For several years now, the sector has been relying on international workers to fill the gap.
However, the continuing uncertainty over the outcome of the Brexit negotiations has been compounding the recruitment problem as some overseas workers leave the UK and fewer are willing to come to the country.
Surveys in the tech sector have found that 50% of respondents have reported the skills shortage as a serious problem, of whom 25% said recruitment was a major challenge.
It has been calculated that UK digital sector will need nearly 300,000 new recruits by 2020 if it is to reach its full potential.
Are there any short-term fixes for the IT skills shortage?
Given the implications for business growth and development, the problem is becoming urgent.
However, increasing the numbers of well-qualified UK IT professionals is likely to take some time.
The most immediate actions businesses can take may be to look at some of their current processes and the skills profile of their existing employees.
There may be processes, particularly in manufacturing, that can be automated or others that could be outsourced. This would free some of the existing workforce for re-training and re-deployment. Of course, the results would not be immediate, but it could yield hitherto unsuspected benefits.
There may also be people in the existing workforce not currently employed for their IT skills but with some knowledge already that can be built on. Equally, offering employees further training has other benefits and not least their feeling valued and more secure in their employment.
Long-term solutions
Research has shown that women are under-represented in the IT sector. By challenging stereotypes businesses can encourage more girls to consider this as a future career. This should therefore start in schools.
Employers can help with this by getting more involved with universities, training colleges and local schools, perhaps simply at the level of encouraging school visits, holding in-school workshops and activities and by publicising the range of their activities in the workplace that need IT skills.
Inviting promising students into their businesses for work experience and to help with projects to give them a wider range of IT experiences may also help.
Sponsoring graduates or technical courses is another initiative worth considering.
Developing an apprenticeship scheme is something that more businesses need to do. This need not be limited to school leavers but can be offered to graduates, people looking to change career and indeed those who have retired but want to return to work.
Businesses may argue that they do not have the time or capacity to get involved in these initiatives, but there is a balance to be struck between the present and the future and if the shortage is impeding on their plans for development and growth then it makes sense to invest time, money and effort now rather than watch competitors take over.