A new report from Multiverse reveals that widespread data skills gaps among employees are causing significant productivity losses. The inaugural Multiverse Skills Intelligence Report highlights how inefficiencies in handling data-related tasks are impacting business operations across various industries in the U.S. and U.K.
- Productivity Impact
- Time Lost: Employees are losing an average of 26 working days per year due to inefficiencies in data tasks.
- Weekly Data Task Hours: Workers spend an average of 14.31 hours per week on data tasks, which is 36% of their total working time.
- Unproductive Time: Out of this, 4.34 hours per week are spent unproductively due to insufficient data skills, equating to over 10% of their total working time.
- Consequences of Data Skills Gaps
- Project Delays: Slower project development and longer times to resolve issues.
- Error Compounding: Errors introduced early on in data tasks can compound over time.
- Missed Trends: Failure to identify important trends and delayed product and service launches.
- Skills Deficiencies
- Data Analysis and Automation: Half of the workers report difficulties in efficient data analysis and process automation.
- Forecasting Challenges: Nearly half of employees struggle with using data for accurate forecasting.
- Technical Proficiency:
- 57% lack advanced Excel skills.
- 55% are not proficient with visualization tools like Power BI or Tableau.
- 86% have no skills in Python.
- Industry-Specific Impacts
- Education Sector: Highest proportion of unproductive data task time at 38%.
- Manufacturing and Engineering: Report 36% unproductive time.
- Banking and Finance: Even data-intensive sectors show 35% of data-related work time as unproductive.
- Employee and Employer Responses
- Desire for Improvement: 90% of employees want to enhance their data skills.
- Organizational Plans:
- 76% of companies plan to upskill existing employees.
- 73% intend to reskill workers into new roles.
- Multiverse’s Role and Impact
- Skills Intelligence Tool: Multiverse uses AI-powered assessments to evaluate employee skill sets and identify capabilities needed.
- Training Benefits:
- 52% of employees saw salary increases during or shortly after training.
- 36% earned promotions due to new skills.
- Over $2 billion in ROI tracked for clients.
- 30% of apprentices come from disadvantaged backgrounds.
- Expert Commentary
- Euan Blair’s Insight: Multiverse’s founder highlights the mismatch between the vast amounts of data collected and the lack of training in essential data handling skills. He emphasizes the economic impact of unproductive data tasks and calls for increased investment in skill development.
The Multiverse Skills Intelligence Report underscores a critical issue: businesses are facing a significant productivity drain due to data skills gaps. With employees spending substantial amounts of time unproductively on data tasks, the need for targeted upskilling and reskilling programs is more urgent than ever. Multiverse’s approach demonstrates the potential for substantial ROI and career advancement when addressing these skills deficiencies.
