Technology is no longer siloed to your IT department. Can you even remember a time when your office wasn’t filled with cell phones, computers, and other workplace technology?
A digitally enabled business model is becoming more common across the globe. Some of the top in-demand employee technology skills your workforce needs to know include:
- Cybersecurity
- Machine learning
- Cloud technologies
- IT automation
- Natural language processing
- Big data
- Data analytics
- Digital marketing
- Artificial intelligence
To stay competitive, you need a process to help your HR department hire and train tech-savvy workers and foster a digital mindset throughout your organization. Read on for tips on the best ways to attract tech-savvy talent and how to develop tech skills in your existing workers.
The urgent need for a tech-savvy workforce
Digital dexterity refers to workplaces that can quickly adapt to changing technologies. This occurs either by attracting tech-savvy employees to your organization or retraining existing workers. Without it, your company won’t be able to keep up with your competitors.
The 2021 HNG “Digital Leadership Report” mentions a few important facts:
- 60% of organizations have some or all their core applications in the cloud.
- 24% have experienced a cyber attack in the past 2 years.
- 67% report a skills shortage.
- 59% are increasing their tech budgets in 2022.
A tech-savvy workforce can help your organization improve operational efficiency, enhance customer engagement, and develop new products and services. However, Gartner’s “Digital Dexterity at Work” study discovered that only 16% of leaders and 9% of employees have a high level of digital proficiency.
Gartner’s “Digital Dexterity at Work” study discovered that only 16% of leaders and 9% of employees have a high level of digital proficiency.
Best ways to attract tech-savvy talent
Organizational change starts with a tech-savvy approach to your recruiting and hiring practices. Here are the top 4 recommendations to help you tackle the skills gap at your company by attracting tech talent.
Flexible work options
Opening your workforce to hybrid flexible and work-from-home options will go a long way to attracting tech-savvy talent. If the role can be performed remotely then, by all means, update the job description. Then post all jobs open to a distributed workforce on your blog, in your newsletters, to your social media sites, and on the careers page on your website.
Tap into potential
Flexibility is a key way to attract tech-savvy talent. Don’t be afraid to train someone that shows potential. Most job openings have a laundry list of desired skills. However, it’s rare to find the unicorn that ticks off all the boxes.
Be willing to give new hires the opportunity to learn and grow with your company. Chances are if they have most of the skills, all they need is a bit of encouragement and on-the-job training to bridge the tech gap.
Power-boost benefits
A generous salary always helps attract applicants to your company. Make sure your HR department is budgeting enough for each position. You’ll also want to give your benefits package a power boost to help you stay competitive in your industry.
The total compensation package is more than collecting a paycheck. People researching your company want to see a comprehensive benefits plan that includes perks such as 401(k) matching, lots of PTO, parental leave, and performance bonuses.
Look for talent in schools
Discovering tech talent pools in your community is key to attracting digital-savvy candidates to your company. Reach out to local schools to identify digital talent in training through an internship program. You can work with their placement office to offer current students the opportunity to intern with your company. Once the internship is complete, you can offer the top performers a full-time job.
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How to develop tech skills in your existing workers
Depending on the unique needs of your business, you might not have time to hire tech-savvy talent for the next big project. So, what happens when you can’t find enough tech talent for your workplace? The short answer is that you’ll have to train them yourself!
Here are 4 ways to tap into your workers’ existing talents to help them develop their tech skills.
Discover in-house talent
You might be surprised at the untapped talent you already have. Skill-hungry employees are always looking for ways to retain their current knowledge and learn new technology. Use polls, surveys, and short questionnaires to help you identify in-house talent.
Look for workers with skill adjacencies. These are employees with some technical knowledge who could pivot to learning new tech with the right training and encouragement. You never know when you’ll find a marketing coordinator that uses Canva to create images for their personal beauty blog. With a bit of training and encouragement, you could help them learn Adobe Creative Suite. This is a great way to help bridge the skills gap at your organization.
Support mentoring and coaching
Encourage mentoring, coaching, and peer-to-peer education at your workplace. On-the-job training requires buy-in from long-term employees to teach their skills to new hires. You could even run this type of recruiting and learning program as a good old-fashioned apprenticeship model.
Skilled trade apprenticeships lasting 2 to 6 years are still common practice in certain industries such as plumbing, electric, and construction. Why not start a digital apprenticeship program at your company to help you train the next generation of IT techs?
Find a training partner
Enlist the help of a tech-savvy training partner. If your HR department is already overworked, tasking them with training your staff isn’t going to help. There are many educational companies, community colleges, and training centers willing to partner with you.
These learning and continuing education experts will jump at the chance to help train your employees. If you have a specific skills need, such as web developers and programmers, a training partner can help develop customized training models.
Make learning fun
Whether you’re training employees yourself or working with an outside partner, you need to make sure learning opportunities are fun and engaging. Don’t be afraid to try new styles and methods of learning. One such approach is running a boot camp-style program like an intensive 6-week crash course to help aspiring coders learn front-end or back-end web development.
All-in-one HR solution
Looking for more tools to put your best tech foot forward? Zenefits can help you meet the expectations of today’s tech-savvy and — for many — remote workforce. You can use our all-in-one HR platform for all your HR, payroll, benefits, and scheduling tasks. From automated onboarding to employee management, we can help streamline your workflow. Reach out to get started with your free trial right now.
