March 2015
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Change Management and the Digital Skills Gap

Monday, March 2, 2015

Most of the time, technological innovations come with a promise that employees will become more productive. With a generation of digital-native employees now in the workforce, it would make sense that individual productivity would be soaring. However, this isn't the case. Labor productivity growth in the U.S. business sector has slowed to a level not seen since the 1950s, according to recent studies. The gap between the potential efficiencies enabled by new technology and the reality in the workplace has been staggering. Every year, it’s estimated that the digital skills gap drains the U.S. economy of nearly $1.3 trillion. For a firm with a thousand employees, this means a $10 million annual loss. So what can be done about this? The first step is to define the goals of each department within an organization and the specific skills required to accomplish them. Based on this list, managers can assess the current state of these skills within the workforce. Most importantly, a program should be designed around an ongoing, scalable model that will maintain the skills of a workforce as new technologies emerge and business practices evolve.

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