Research from the CBI shows businesses need employee training

British businesses struggle to find staff qualified with STEM skills (science, technology, engineering and maths) who also carry the right work ethic, it is obvious that academia alone will not guarantee securing a job position in favour of someone less skilled. The CBI (Confederation of British Industry) conducted research ‘on 294 employers, covering 1.24 million employees‘ which finds that ’45 per cent of businesses say that STEM-qualified applicants don’t arrive rounded, grounded and ready for work’ and that ‘attitudes to work and general aptitudes rank higher in importance when recruiting than academic results alone’.

The key areas which need improvement have shown to be:

  • Language skills (French ranked most important).
  • STEM qualifications from Higher Education.
  • Careers advice for young people.
  • Funding for training and education (from government)

John Cridland, director-general of CBI, believes that ‘Firms are already investing in training but they cannot do it on their own.’ He also stated that he believed that the solution is ‘routing funding more directly to firms.’