Brit workers are 'apathetic and unskilled'

Details here if you can be bothered

By John Oates • Get more from this author

Posted in IT Director, 15th September 2004 15:39 GMT

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UK workers are apathetic and lacking in skills according to a bunch of highly-skilled and very driven management bods. The survey of board-level executives, paid for by HP, reveals "deep seated concern about the competency and motivation of the modern UK workforce". And we thought it was just journalists...

The researchers spoke to 200 executives at companies with more than 500 staff and found the biggest concerns were skills shortages and employee apathy.

A clear majority of firms believe they are unprepared to deal with skills shortages - 69 per cent feel unprepared versus 8 per cent who feel their firm is well prepared. Internal apathy is the issue business is failing to address according to 57 per cent of correspondents. 57 per cent of respondents feel their company is unprepared for terrorist attack or sabotage while 13 per cent think they are well prepared.

The survey also asked what were the main barriers to change. Although companies cited external factors like regulation and red tape British businesses also blamed "internal procedures and infrastructure", "inertia - lack of desire of the individual to change" and "a lack of internal skills".

HP believes a more adaptive approach to technology "will foster a company better equipped to deal with changing market conditions and turn this into competitive advantage." ®