9 in 10 Employees Say Lack in Data Skills Lead to Greater Challenges at Work, May Be Career Development Roadblock

• 92% admit to not achieving optimal
  productivity due to a lack of data skills
• 89% say that they face challenges at work as a
  result of not understanding data
• 87% view
  their lack of data competencies as a roadblock to their career development

SINGAPORE
– Media OutReach – 3
July 2020 – As the Covid-19 economy spurs businesses to increase
their reliance of data analytics and business intelligence, employees face the
pressure of keeping pace with the evolving workplace demands. A large
majority of employees (92%) say that they
could be able to do their job better if they were more data literate, while to
a similar measure, 89% say they experience challenges at work due to the lack
of data-related skillsets. These were some of the key findings revealed in the recently launched NTUC LearningHub Data Skills Report,
which features insights from industry leaders such as global tech giant
IBM, Japanese tech conglomerate Softbank and leading analytics software company
Qlik.

The report, entitled ‘A
View From the Ground: Closing the Data Skills Gap in the Covid-19 Era and
Beyond’ uncovers both employers’ and employees’ views on the degree of reliance
on data and business intelligence in Singapore’s business landscape, the
general perception about the data-related competencies of the nation’s
workforce, hiring trends and preferences of businesses here, and
recommendations for closing skills gaps in order for businesses and workers to
remain competitive.

Among
other challenges, employees have voiced that not being competent in data results
in their inability to measure work
outcomes (59%), becoming outdated on current and future business
practices (56%) or
inability to do their jobs well (55%). In addition, while employees voted Data Analysis
(voted by 63%), Data Interpretation for Decision Making in Business (voted by
50%), and Data Protection and Risk Management (voted by 48%) as the most
necessary data skills for their businesses, these skills were perceived as those
in which they lack, as voted by 37%, 30% and 27% of employees, respectively.

When
asked about how the lack of data skills impacted their careers, 87% of employees
raised concerns such
as a falling behind their colleagues in work performance (68%), becoming less
useful to their companies (64%), and having lesser chance of a job promotion (57%).

Commenting on the
findings, NTUC LearningHub’s CEO Kwek Kok Kwong says, “In this new decade, data
literacy will evolve as a basic literacy skill for Worker 4.0 — our future
workers. Reading the report, more workers will be anxious about their data capabilities,
but we are here to assure you that it is a learnable skill if you are willing
to invest time and effort. It is not reserved for an elite few.”

“To make data
literacy more accessible to all, we have been working with esteemed industry
players such as Qlik, Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, and many more. Like learning
all new things, it can be daunting in the beginning but taking the first step
forward is a success in itself. If you are new to data and the many business
benefits it brings, take this first step by reading the report, exploring the
options and make the first commitment to learn this emerging core skill of the
decade.”

To download the full
NTUC LearningHub Data Skills Report 2020, visit: www.ntuclearninghub.com/data-skills-2020/

About NTUC LearningHub

NTUC LearningHub was corporatised in 2004 with the vision of
transforming the lifelong employability of working people. We work with both
corporate and individual clients to provide learning solutions in areas such as
Infocomm Technology, Healthcare, Employability & Literacy, Business Excellence,
Workplace Safety & Health, Security, Human Resources and Foreign Worker
Training.

To date, NTUC LearningHub has helped over 21,000 organisations and
achieved over 2.5 million training places across more than 500 courses with a
pool of over 400 certified trainers. As a Total Learning Solutions provider to
organisations, we also forge partnerships and provide a wide range of relevant
end-to-end training solutions and work constantly to improve our training
quality and delivery. 

For more information, visit www.ntuclearninghub.com.