The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the use of hybrid working models in which employees would split their time between working at an office and working remotely. This inadvertently demonstrated that people could work together and collaborate on projects when they were geographically distant from one another.
Mindworx CEO Martin Pienaar says a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns is that people are more comfortable working online. This includes working remotely, studying remotely and gaining training remotely.
Advancements in technology have also required individuals to upskill themselves to ensure they remain employable in the industries they already work in. Pienaar says there are plenty of opportunities available to people online to upskill themselves if they take the initiative to do so.
They said, “If people take the initiative there's plenty out there to study so we all need to make an effort in putting a plan together… to set ourselves goals to say over the next 12 months this is what we will achieve from a personal development perspective and we all need to be out there updating our skills at all times.”
However, it's not only the employees that have to adjust to the changing labour market, as companies must also evolve in order to retain their employees.
Pienaar said, “ Some people haven't wanted to come back to a full-time in-office job and would leave a company if they didn't have that flexibility of working partly remote… in order to retain skills and talent organisations have to think beyond just remuneration key, your remuneration has to be market related but also you know are we giving people access to to building their skills base? Are we allowing flexible working conditions?”
Qualifications consultant Maseru Madlala believes young people should prioritise skills development as skills are important in the current labour market.
Focusing on technological skills development could be beneficial as the future job market will require individuals to have certain skills.
Madlala says they advocate for skills development as it allows individuals to find what they are good at and use those skills to find employment. They add that these skills programmes may not require individuals to have a Grade 12 qualification in order to be admitted.
