Business leaders must step up if we're going to close the digital skills gap

PwC investing $3 billion to help close the technology skills gap

Closing the digital skills gap is one of society’s biggest issues right now. We hear it everywhere - in business discussions, on the news, and during election debates. It is true that technology is transforming how we do business across all industries.

The way that technology is transforming work is also creating a lot of anxiety because of the widely held perception that more automation equates to job loss and the ability for business leaders to keep wages down. That level of uncertainty creates real anxiety for both workers and those that want to enter the workforce. It’s clear that business leaders need to be part of the solution by debunking this myth and preparing people for the digital future. And not just their people - we leaders also have a unique opportunity and an obligation to society to enable future workforce entrants and underrepresented groups to be ready for and included in this future. 

PwC understands how high these stakes are, so we are putting digital upskilling at the core of our business strategy for the foreseeable future. We have decided to invest in digital training for our people as well as bringing that training to underserved communities and to our clients. Our investment to digital transformation is unmatched - through our commitment, New World. New Skills, we’re investing $3 billion globally to improve the skills and knowledge of millions of people around the world. Although we are a 170-year old organization, we’re managing to innovate quickly so that we can get our people upskilled fast, and we’re innovating at scale so that all of our people can develop these skills and gain more control over their futures.

Here’s how we’re tackling this incredibly challenging and critically important issue:

We're not leaving anyone behind

We believe it is our responsibility as a firm to provide our people with the knowledge, skills, and tools they need to adapt to the digital future. So we are rolling out tools for every single one of our 55,000+ workforce to be upskilled, regardless of level, tenure or role. We’re not just investing in our digital natives, newcomers, or partners, we’re democratizing our learning so that everyone has the same tools and the same opportunity to upskill themselves. 

But digitally upskilling 55,000+ employees requires not just great tools and technology, but also deep and lasting culture change that is informed by our understanding of how our people live, work and learn. We’ve listened to our people and have designed a program and tools that directly address the challenges they face not just professionally, but personally. We’ve taken into account barriers to learning like lack of time and interest, low base knowledge of tech topics, and fear of failure. We are approaching digital upskilling by meeting our people where they are by creating tools that are designed to address these barriers. 

Most notably, we developed the Digital Fitness App that is a custom experience for each individual: It creates a custom curriculum for each user generated based on (1) an individual’s digital assessment and (2) their job function. Not only that, the app leverages all kinds of learning tools to accommodate all different learning styles - from gamification to podcasts - and can be used anywhere that our people can access their cell phone. 

Because we’re approaching digital transformation not as tech adoption but as opt-in culture change, we are on our way to successfully upskilling our entire US workforce of over 55,000 people. 

We're bringing digital learning to millions of underserved students

When I say we are investing, that doesn’t just apply to our employees. It also applies to the people who live and work in our communities. We think our tools are pretty great and we want to share them with as many people as possible, so we are extending our commitment beyond our own walls by bringing upskilling to underserved schools around the country. 

We know that it’s not just the present workforce that needs training, it’s the future workforce as well. And we also know that only 10% of educators feel confident teaching technology concepts, especially in underserved school districts. As of last year, we gave a customized version of our Digital Fitness Assessment to any K-12 teacher who wants it for free. To date, 21,000 teachers have used it (and counting).

One example: Sumaiya Qazi, a teacher at a Chicago Public High School, is one of the apps most frequent users, and she says the app’s lessons align seamlessly with her class’ study of economics. Among other things, Qazi learned about Smart Homes through the app and integrated the topic into her class’ discussion. Though her students didn’t have this tech in their own homes, they flexed their creativity to imagine how these smart devices could change retail stores, where many work outside of school. 

By 2021, we aim to help 10 million students develop technology acumen and get 100,000 educators upskilled so that they can continue to equip their students for the digital future. As of June, we have reached 8.3 million students and are continuing to work with them every day. 

We're proving that reinvesting in our people works

I believe that people are our greatest asset, and we’re making a huge investment in them – and are already seeing returns. 

Not only are we already doing better, faster work for clients, but our people’s experience at the firm is better than ever. Investment in digital upskilling and the increased automation of a lot of the simple and repetitive tasks our people used to have to deal with, enables our people to focus their time on delivering higher value insights for their clients and their colleagues. Our Digital Accelerator Program has helped the firm retain employees at a rate 50% stronger than our overall staff retention rates, and in our annual people survey, 81% of staff acknowledged that they were “developing critical digital skills for the future.”

Also, investing in our people in this way has had a measurable impact on our profitability. We’ve already been able to automate millions of hours of work to allow our people time to do what they do best, and to free them up for creative digital pursuits. And of course, to spend more time in the pursuit of better quality and valuable strategic insights for our clients. 

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The future is always uncertain, but at the beginning of this journey we promised our people that if they opted in, we wouldn’t leave them behind. I am now watching our people get excited about the future of digital and seeing themselves as a part of that future. We don’t know exactly how technology will continue to shape our businesses and our jobs, but if our people feel confident and lean in, adopt new skills and technology, and face challenges head-on, we will all win. 

Business leaders - We are the stewards of society and of our people’s livelihoods. I urge us all to think critically about what happens if we don’t help people prepare for the digital future. It is never too late to start on this journey. I’m here to help.