The UK’s Chartered Insurance Institute’s third annual skills survey, confirmed that “two thirds of people in insurance and financial services believe that the sector should remain committed to maintaining investment in staff training at pre-recession levels.”
Another finding shows just how serious the current economic crisis has hit the UK. The survey found that “more than a quarter (26 percent) of employees in UK insurance and financial services fear losing their job,” while “two percent have actually been made redundant since the beginning of the current downturn.
“The report also shows that insurance and financial services firms are still concerned about the basic skills of new recruits as they leave school or university. The proportion of firms reporting that skills as an issue had been discussed at board level jumped by more than 10 percent to 90 percent over the year to 2009. And despite economic conditions 70 percent of employers are still seeing skills shortages in 2009 – a fall of 6 percent over the previous year.
“While two thirds of respondents (66 percent) believe that it is important to carry on investing in staff training in order to be well placed to benefit from the recovery, one in five employers is planning to make savings by cutting spending on training, well over half of whom (64 percent) have done so already.”
The survey also examined skill levels in the UK in comparison to other countries, and found some pessimistic conclusions. “The percentage believing that the UK is behind its overseas competitors at the moment remains steady at 39 percent (last year 41 percent), but this rises to 46 percent when respondents were asked how they thought the matter would stand in 2020,” said the CII’s bulletin. “This accords with the gloomy prognosis for UK skills competitiveness by 2020 reported last week by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (‘Ambition 2020’).”
Although 66 percent of all respondents thought that those joining the financial sector today were “well equipped,” employers took a different view, “with 56 percent saying that the education system is not meeting their needs.”
CII Director of Policy and Public Affairs, David Thomson, commented: “This survey shows that in insurance and financial services employers and employees alike realize the importance of investing in training and development despite the recession. Cutting training skills in a recession is a dangerous and false economy – ‘Who trains wins’ still holds true.
“Despite current economic problems it is important that we, as a sector and as an economy as a whole, continue to focus on long term skills goals. Though it is necessary to deal with particular short term issues as a result of the recession, we must strive for improvements well into the future. Global competition is fierce and there is the danger we could lose ground if our preparations are not right, as the Commission for Employment and Skills pointed out earlier in May.
“The education system needs to meet better the needs of business, and business needs to articulate better what it wants and how it can help. Investment in the current workforce will be just as important – employers see this but what many do not realize is that there is some help out there from the government through apprenticeships.”
Caspar Bartington, education specialist at the CII, added: “Worryingly, only one in three employers in our sector is aware that professional qualifications can be part of the government-funded Apprenticeship Scheme. That said, numbers are growing across the country in companies of all sizes. The CII works closely with apprenticeship providers to explain to employers the very real benefits, financial or otherwise, of up skilling a workforce in these challenging times.”
The full report of the Third Annual CII Group Skills Survey 2009, with graphics, can be seen on the CII website at: www.cii.co.uk/research, as of May 29.
Source: Chartered Insurance Institute – www.cii.co.uk
Topics Trends Training Development
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
Damage From Hurricane Beryl May Cost Insurers $2.7B in US, $510M in Caribbean: KCC 
Hurricane Beryl: Insurers See Minimal Impact, Brace for Active Season 
Insurers Hike Rates as Extreme Storms Like Beryl Proliferate 
Hacker Says AT&T Paid About $400,000 to Erase Sensitive Data 
