"The pace of innovation in digital industries has always meant that skills have been at a premium. Tackling digital skills gaps has been a long-running pre-occupation of both industry and government, influencing everything from education to immigration policy."
One other critical issue arising from Brexit is the extent to which it will impact on the UK tech sector’s ability to recruit the talent it needs in the future. According to Labour Force Survey figures, around 7% of workers in the UK’s information and communication sectors were born in the EU, which is marginally above the average across the entire workforce.
The HR issues arising directly from Brexit include the uncertain legal status of these current EU workers and the fact that, once free movement ends, there will be more barriers to employing highly skilled EU citizens in months and years to come.
Access to talent, however, is far from just a Brexit issue. The pace of innovation in digital industries has always meant that skills have been at a premium. Tackling digital skills gaps has been a long-running pre-occupation of both industry and government, influencing everything from education to immigration policy.
Whatever happens post-Brexit, London starts the search for future talent from a very strong base. For the past two years, the capital has been named the best city in Europe for attracting global tech talent. Figures from London & Partners show that more international developers were recruited in the city in 2018 than any of its European rivals, boosted by the decision of major companies like Facebook and Amazon to base engineering operations here.
While there is no room for complacency, public figures such as Deputy London Mayor for Business Rajesh Agrawal insist that this strong base will see London continue to attract the very best global talent to support its thriving tech sector. Russ Shaw, meanwhile, founder of industry body Tech London Advocates, is more cautious, calling talent recruitment the industry’s “greatest challenge to date.”
Respondents to our London Tech Week Survey leant towards the more optimistic view. When it was put to them that London currently has the tech talent available to continue scaling up startups into tech giants, a comprehensive 53% agreed. Just 13% disagreed, with the remainder adopting a neutral position.
On the other hand, a degree of caution against complacency could also be picked out. When asked what the biggest challenges facing digital transformation in business would be this year, 26% replied shortages of skills. This was second only to cybersecurity, which was picked out by 28% or respondents.
With the possibility of more red tape to jump through when recruiting talent from overseas, it would be logical to expect a redoubling of efforts in training and skills development across the sector.
Interestingly, a resounding 55% of respondents to the survey believed that training and apprenticeships represented the best way to increase diversity in London’s tech industry as well.
Tech London Advocates has been campaigning for the past few years to increase diversity in the capital’s tech workforce, arguing that the sector does not reflect the city’s multicultural identity and is therefore likely to be missing out on talent right under its nose.
Asked which skills would be most in demand amongst new recruits going forward, 40% of respondents said knowledge of AI and Machine Learning.
This reflects the rapid growth in AI development in London, which has attracted more than £400m in venture capital funding since 2016.
It’s a similar story with cybersecurity, which is viewed as both a key challenge and a major growth opportunity. 23% of our survey participants picked out cybersecurity skills as being in most demand. Big Data Analytics came third with 17%.
Sources:
https://ukandeu.ac.uk/fact-figures/where-do-eu-migrants-in-the-uk-work/
http://www.tech.london/news/lack-of-diversity-threatens-the-future-of-londons-tech-industry
http://www.cityam.com/271320/london-raked-18bn-tech-funding-last-year-almost-double-its
http://www.cityam.com/272861/london-named-europes-top-destination-international-tech
http://www.cityam.com/270862/uks-brexit-proof-tech-startups-land-christmas-number-one
https://www.londonandpartners.com/media-centre/press-releases/2018/20180608-uk-and-london-remain-top-european-hubs-for-global-tech-investors
Find out more about the big issues in tech at London Tech Week, taking place across the city from the 10th to 14th June