The need for lifelong learning is something I’ve touched upon numerous times, but while the supply of low-cost means of picking up new skills has flourished in recent years, it has been much harder to get those who need it the most to engage.  This is especially so in low-skilled communities where engagement with education has been poor throughout their lives.

As with so much in life, COVID-19 has accelerated the importance of creating a society that can reskill people to allow them to better adapt to the vicissitudes of the labor market.  FutureFit is a joint initiative between Google and Nesta to try and improve matters, and a recent report highlights some of the results of initial efforts to upskill over 1,000 people in Denmark, Sweden, and Finland.

“FutureFit is focused on creating an effective adult learning system to help tackle inequality and social exclusion,” the report says. “In partnership with some of Europe’s largest unions, leading researchers, employers and adult learning experts, FutureFit is reskilling workers at risk of job displacement and conducting a large evaluation of what works, so that solutions can be scaled.”

Back to work

The pandemic has had an enormous impact on the labor market, with around 16 million people unemployed across Europe, which represents a rise of over 2 million people during 2020. This has coincided with a clear rise in investments in digital technologies that require new skills to work effectively alongside.

The FutureFit program aims to address the digital skills gap and help to reskill people for the jobs of tomorrow. The report suggests that the program has also provided significant insights into what works, and what doesn’t, in terms of reskilling employees across various industries and occupations.

The program was rolled out in countries known as the Digital Frontrunners: Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, and Belgium. To date, only Sweden, Finland, and Denmark have completed their program, with the Netherlands and Belgium due to complete later this year.

“Inclusive growth can only take place if training is accessible to everyone, especially to those most at risk of job displacement, who often do not have the opportunity or the means to learn new skills,” the report says. “The FutureFit program targets workers whose jobs are at risk from automation in the Digital Frontrunner countries.”

Future Fit

The results show that there was a significant improvement in digital skills among participants, with 95% not only improving their skills but also putting those skills to use.

What’s more, this improvement was even possible despite the largely virtual environment the training took place in.  The report reveals that participants felt engaged and supported, even though much of their connectivity was provided via platforms such as Slack.  Indeed, the process was so engaging that 85% of participants said they made new friends.

Perhaps most interestingly, the program was also effective in giving older workers new digital skills, with participants saying that they felt more confident with new technologies after the training.

The success of the project was hampered, however, by a general lack of time, especially during a pandemic in which time-pressures have increased significantly.  Family responsibilities in addition to work made it hard to fit time for learning into their lives, and participants also reported low motivation and a lack of support from employers and family as major barriers to progress.

It’s clear that there is not going to be a silver bullet that makes reskilling people effective or easy, but it’s pleasing to see a degree of experimentation underway to test new approaches.