A report on the 'digital talent gap' has revealed that 48% of automotive employees feel their digital skill set will be redundant in five years.

The results come from a global report released by Capgemini, in conjunction with LinkedIn, and highlight the risks posed to car dealers by the arrival of EU General Data Protection Regulation in May, which is the subject of a special AM conference being hosted at the Double Tree, Milton Keynes, in February.

Capgemini's report analyzed the demand and supply of talent with specific digital skills and the availability of digital roles across multiple industries and countries.

Many of today’s employees are concerned that their skills are either already, or soon to become, redundant.

Overall, 29% of employees believe their skill set is redundant now or will be in the next one to two years, while more than a third (38%) consider their skill set will be redundant in the next four to five years.

From an industry perspective, 48% of employees in the automotive sector think that their skill set will be redundant in the next four to five years, followed by the banking sector (44%), utilities (42%), telecom and insurance (both 39%), according to the report.

Skill redundancy concerns and lack of faith in an organization’s upskilling efforts have the potential to trigger attrition.

More than half of digitally talented employees (55%) say they are willing to move to another organization if they feel their digital skills are stagnating at their current employer, while close to half of employees (47%) are likely to gravitate towards organizations that offer better digital skill development

However, employers noted they are also worried about attrition of upskilled staff.

Just over half of employers (51%) believe their employees will leave their organization after they receive training and half (50%) say their digital skills training sessions are not well attended.

Capgemini’s head of executive leadership and change, Claudia Crummenerl, said: “Organizations face a mammoth task in terms of digital upskilling.

"Given that skill redundancy is a key concern among our employee respondents, ensuring a clear development path is essential to address this.

“In the future, the digital talent gap will continue to widen and no company can sit back and be comfortable. Organizations need to be consistently innovating and planning their workforce evolution.”

AM will host a GDPR conference covering the major aspects of the new EU legislation at the Hilton Doubletree, Milton Keynes, on 22nd February 2018.

The speakers include data experts from the Direct Marketing Association and cyber security experts.

For more information about the event – or to confirm your attendance by booking a place – visit https://amgdprconference.am-online.com/

Read the full report