Data skills gaps costs businesses nearly a month of productivity per employee annually, finds Multiverse report

Press Release by Multiverse Tue 1 Oct 2024

Person clicking on data and skills on a screen

Analysis from skills intelligence and development platform, Multiverse, has found businesses are grappling with a significant productivity drain due to widespread data skills gaps among their workforce. According to data, employees are losing an average of 26 working days per year due to inefficiencies in handling data-related tasks.

The inaugural Multiverse Skills Intelligence Report pulled data from Multiverse’s skills assessment and development platform, and analyses the skills and productivity levels of over 12,000 employees across 18 major industries in the US and UK. The assessment found workers spend an average of 14.31 hours per week on data tasks, which is equivalent to 36% of their total working week.

However, 4.34 hours of this time is spent unproductively due to inadequate data skills. Multiverse found that, overall, workers spend over 10% of their total working time ineffectively due to skill deficiencies in areas like data analysis, automation, and predictive modelling.

The company concluded that project development is slowed, answers take longer to work out, errors are introduced early on compound, trends are missed, and products and services take longer to get to market.

Founder and CEO at Multiverse, Euan Blair, said companies recognise the value of big data, but ‘their employees are spending hours each week, struggling in spreadsheets, because they have never been trained in these areas that they are now expected to know’.

“The economic cost of the time spent unproductively grappling with data tasks is in the billions: it is something companies need to take seriously. Companies have spent billions on software, but hardly anything on the skills needed to get the most from that software,” said Blair.

The report highlighted a paradox in the modern workplace: while data has become integral to most roles, many employees lack the fundamental skills to leverage it effectively. Half of the surveyed workers reported challenges in making data analysis more efficient or automating processes. Nearly half struggled with using data for forecasting.

Technical proficiency was also found to be lagging, with 57% of employees reporting no or only basic Excel skills, 55% lacking competence in visualisation tools like Power BI or Tableau, and 86% having no Python skills.

Multiverse discovered the impact of these skills gaps varies across industries. The education sector reported the highest proportion of unproductive time spent on data tasks at 38%, followed closely by manufacturing and engineering at 36%. Even traditionally data-intensive sectors like banking and finance reported 35% of data-related work time as unproductive.

Despite these challenges, Multiverse discovered a silver lining. A total of 90% of employees express a desire to improve their data skills. This aligns with the plans of many organisations, with 76% intending to upskill existing employees and 73% planning to reskill workers into new roles.

Multiverse Closes Skills Gaps with Data

Multiverse works with over 1,500 companies, including Microsoft, Citi, KPMG, Unilever, and Capita, to offer digital skills assessments and programs tailored to their existing workforce.

The company said its skills intelligence tool uses AI-powered assessments to create an inventory of existing employee skill sets and help companies reveal critical capabilities they need to build. Using these insights, Multiverse develops a targeted, data-driven employee upskilling and reskilling strategy that closes skills gaps for businesses.

Multiverse reported a total of 52% of employees who participated in Multiverse training programs reported a salary increase during or shortly after the program. Additionally, 36% of participants earned promotions due to their newly acquired skills. The organisation has also tracked over £1.5 billion ($2 billion) in return on investment (ROI) for its clients.

Multiverse added that 30% of its apprentices come from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, reflecting its commitment to diversity and inclusion.