Future-ready workforce: How businesses can help boost the Channel Islands’ human capital

By Sarah Hollingsworth and James Linder

The Channel Islands’ ability to attract international investment and sustain high levels of prosperity and growth has always depended on the skills, knowledge and drive of our people – our ‘human capital’. And never more so than in a global economy being transformed by digitisation, shifting consumer expectations and the move to Net Zero.

At PwC, we’ve been looking closely at the nature of human capital in the Channel Islands. This includes gauging local strengths and weaknesses, and how we compare internationally. What comes through strongly is that the Channel Islands have significant talent challenges. These range from the impact of automation to the growing demographic challenge of an ageing population and falling numbers of people of traditional workforce age (16-64). But if targeted and tackled effectively, these challenges can be turned into opportunities.

Making more of what we have

Alongside upskilling, raising levels of workforce participation can also provide a valuable uplift to human capital. More women in work is a clear case in point. PwC research shows that female participation in Jersey and Guernsey’s workforce ranks below both the UK and Luxembourg, a closely comparable economy. The Channel Islands could boost its GDP by 5% by matching the female employment rates seen in Sweden, one of the women in work index leaders. Ways to achieve this include enabling the flexible and hybrid working that would encourage more women to return to work after having children. As our working age population shrinks, it’s also important to encourage more older people to participate in the workforce. This includes stepping up tech upskilling throughout people’s careers and breaking down the barriers of ageism facing many older workers.

A place people would want to work

The other big component of human capital and a potential area of improvement is employee engagement. Support for diversity, inclusion and wellbeing is clearly an important part of this. Within our islands specifically, further priorities include thinking about how we can best welcome migrants coming into our community and foster a sense of belonging. As our Channel Islands future of work and skills survey 2022 report highlights, prized talent also wants to be part of organisations with a strong sense of purpose and that share their values.

Realising the potential

How can we capitalise on these opportunities? Governments have an important role in areas such as economic policy, health services and investment in skills. Businesses also have a responsibility – and a self-interest – to invest in talent development, both within their organisations and our community. Drawing on research and work with local businesses, we’ve identified a series of priorities across four main human capital pillars – grow, enable, optimise and attract and retain.

Playing our part

We at PwC are determined to play our part. This includes our investment in upskilling through our New World New Skills programme, and sharing what we’ve learned with fellow businesses and public sector organisations. We also want to upskill and reskill our community through schemes such as Hive Hackers, which helps students in local schools to build up their digital skills and prepare for a world of technology and innovation. These skills can help students to move into high quality jobs. They can also open the way to global careers while staying close to friends and family. We know that strengthening the skills base and talent pool within our community delivers enduring benefits for our business. But it’s also what our employees expect us to do because it’s the right thing for businesses to do.

If you would like to know more about how your business can contribute to human capital development on our islands, please feel free to get in touch.