Some important data out of the UK

Peter du ToitI'm the founder of FutureWork IQ where I spend my time assisting businesses to design digital workplaces or “offices in the cloud.” These environments enable companies to allow flexible and remote working for their teams. I also teach the digital literacy, fluency, communication and collaboration skills needed to work in these modern technology-rich workplaces.

Some recent research by Lloyd Bank in the UK entitled UK Consumer Digital Index found that just under half of the UK workforce doesn’t have the digital literacy or virtual work skills to work in modern digital workplaces. Many of these individuals include older adults.

This obviously severely limits the earning potential of the individual but also prevents companies from evolving into modern organizations. It’s also clear that anyone wanting to participate in the economy, either as a gig worker, freelancer or employee is going to need to have virtual work skills to do so.

These conclusions are also supported by the LinkedIn Economic Graph data. Digital Literacy and Fluency have become a basic requirement in the workplace

The issue is of such importance that the UK Government has started a major upskilling initiative Check out the comments of Margot James the UK’s Minister for Digital and the Creative Industries, Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport on this report:

This is a need we at Futurework IQ also identified and it’s our belief that an unprepared workforce is not just a UK problem but a global one and most definitely applicable to South Africa too.

This is why we created the Virtual Work Skills for the Modern Workplace online course. This program is designed to give you the foundational skills in order to participate in a modern workplace.

We cover things like online career and identity management, how to improve your Information & Communication Technology (ICT) Literacy, how to become skilled at communication and collaboration in technology rich environments, how to become a life-long learner, guidance on how to improve your information and media literacy as well as the personality traits of a skilled virtual worker.

(Please note if you would like this programme presented as an in-house programme you can reach out to us here)