Gateway staff to have greater management skills

Over 50 per cent of employers in the Midlands have highlighted management ability as the most pressing skill need in their staff, according to a new report published.The research was conducted amongst indigenous small-medium enterprises (SMEs) and large multinationals in counties Laois, Longford, Offaly, Roscommon and Westmeath. The Midlands Gateway Chamber in conjunction with the Midlands Gateway Implementation Forum commissioned the survey to identify those skills that employers feel are required to achieve their business objectives.Two-thirds of respondents indicated that they needed to up-skill their employees in order to meet their organisation"s business objectives. This figure varied depending on the size of the organisation, with 84 per cent of larger organisations (over 50 employees) and 54 per cent of businesses employing less than 50 people agreeing with the statement.The President of the Midlands Gateway Chamber, Professor Ciarán Ó Catháin, said: 'Successive reports and national policy documents have pointed to the need for Ireland to move more centrally into the knowledge economy space. For its part, the Midlands Gateway has a wealth of corporate and human resource talent to enable this development. However, we must be cognisant of shortfalls and lacunae in our offering and move to address these issues. This Skill Needs Assessment is a powerful tool to understanding our current skills position and the steps that are essential to fulfilling the region and its communities" true potential.'Other key findings of the report include:- For smaller organisations, management skills are the highest priority, while sales and marketing skills are a priority for almost half the organisations surveyed.- For larger organisations, management skills are a key need with almost 60 per cent of organisations indicating this to be a priority. IT, technical and innovation skills were all a top priority for 10 per cent of large organisations.- Management and sales/marketing skills are one of the two top skill needs across all sectors with technical and health and safety/environmental skills important in the manufacturing, public sector and construction sectors.- Experience was cited as the most significant deficiency for graduate-level employees joining from higher education. For smaller organisations, the next most significant deficiency is business acumen and commercial awareness. However, the second most important deficiency for larger organisations is skill in leadership/management.- Almost 70 per cent of smaller organisations did not have a dedicated human resources (HR) person, while over 70 per cent of larger organisations have at least one person or more dedicated to HR.- The most popular methods of learning in larger organisations are in-house training courses and coaching and/or mentoring. In-house training courses are also the most popular learning method in smaller organisations, while FÁS courses are the second most popular method of learning.- The two most critical issues for both smaller and larger organisations are making employees available for training and the availability of funding. Approximately 50 per cent of both smaller and larger organisations identified availability of funding as a significant issue, while a total of 84 per cent of larger organisations and 75 per cent of smaller organisations indicated that making employees available for training is a key issue.One of the recommendations of the skill needs assessment report is that the Midlands Gateway Chamber and the Implementation Forum should agree a specific action plan for the Gateway with the IDA, Enterprise Ireland, FÁS, AIT and other relevant agencies to address the priority skill needs across the region.This action plan should include an internet portal that brings together all training and education courses on offer. It also calls for the establishment of a system that regularly assesses the region"s skills base and a further needs assessment of unemployed people and persons who did not complete secondary school.For employers, the report suggests that organisations should address the key training issues identified in the survey of making employees available for training and enhancing the mechanisms to allow employees take advantage of the flexible course offerings of education and training providers.The report also states that smaller organisations should invest more in employee training and consider the benefits of increased attention to human resources.The research was conducted in late 2008, with one-quarter of the 230 large employer organisations (more than 50 staff) and a further 107 smaller organisations completing the survey.