UK employees rate technology and digital skills as essential at work

Nearly half (46%) of British workers would like wearable devices equipped with health apps added to their employee benefits package, according new research from technology company Ricoh UK.

The findings form part of Ricoh’s new report in partnership with polling company Censuswide into digital workplace trends. The Digital Dexterity: Denied report includes detailed polling of more than 2000 UK office workers and provides fresh insights into the technology challenges facing companies and their employees.

The report identifies digital skills training as a key differentiator for employees seeking a new job. More than a third of UK office workers (37%) say they would move jobs to a company that offered better digital skills in the workplace. Likewise, a modest 18% of respondents rated their skills as ‘excellent’, while 51% said ‘good’ and 30% considered themselves ‘average.’

Only 15% of UK office workers said they considered the current use of tech by their company as excellent.

Chas Moloney, Director at Ricoh UK comments: “Mastering digital dexterity is critical for career building and workers are looking to employers to do the heavy lifting and ensure opportunities for skills training are in place. The failed ‘one size fits all’ working culture of the past must be scrapped in favour of tech-enabled workstyles that allow individuals to collaborate and reach their full potential.”

The research also found that social media and collaboration tools are set to play a more critical role in future working environments. 44% of UK office workers believe that social media and workplace collaboration technologies will help improve employee working relationships. Nearly half (46%) of UK office workers said that Facebook was banned in their workplace. This was closely followed by Twitter at 34% and Instagram at 31%.