Organisations in Egypt need to upskill and lean on big data insights to build tomorrow’s workforce : PwC Middle East survey

20 Dec 2021: PwC Middle East has launched its Middle East findings of the Future of Work and Skills Survey: “Building tomorrow’s workforce: Six no-regrets plays to make today”. The survey highlights key measures to create workforces of tomorrow through leadership and tactical planning strategies for the future. The survey explored the views of almost 4,000 business and human resources (HR) leaders globally, with 300 persons across the Middle East in UAE, KSA, Qatar and Egypt.

The survey’s findings in Egypt highlight the need to invest in the workforce in response to market changes as well as leaning on Big Data and advanced analytics insights in the workforce decision-making process.

Building talent development and upskilling programmes fit for the organisation

Due to the pandemic’s implications, more complex challenges are rising and additional changes in the work dynamics are occurring. Thus, leaders have to embed new strategic planning techniques that include investing in their employees’ development within their organisational DNA as a crucial part of the organization’s growth journey.

In Egypt, 58% of the sample have expressed that adjusting the workforce in response to market changes is very important compared to 46% in the Middle East, while only 43% strongly agreed to being able to do so compared to only 35% in the Middle East. This shows how encouraging re-skilling and continuous learning is essential to help workers remain employable, leading to identifying and addressing the most crucial skill gaps, building a more diverse, tech-skilled workforce and gaining employees’ trust.  

Using data to anticipate and plan for the future

Leveraging insights from Big Data and advanced analytics is a reliable approach for leaders to prepare for the future. In Egypt, 53% believed that using insights from Big Data and advanced analytics in workforce decision-making is very important compared to 41%  of organisations in the Middle East, while only 33% strongly agreed to being able to do that in comparison to 29% only in the Middle East. 

Leaders have to lean on tangible insights when making critical organisational decisions to model how changes in work are decided and fuel outcomes-based decision-making and meaningful returns on investment which will extend the mutual trustworthiness between employers and their employees.

Maged Ezzeldeen, Egypt Senior Partner and Deals Leader, commented: “Leadership and organisational culture are certainly linked. Leaders need to listen to their people during the decisions made around investments aiming towards the organisation's growth. In Egypt, the survey’s findings reflect our employees’ tendency to maintain their upskilling and learning curve and show their understanding of the importance of advanced analytics in the decision-making process in the workplace. At PwC Middle East, we maintain our commitment in developing more upskilling opportunities for our people, re-imaging digitisation in the workplace and investing in new technologies, adding up to our global strategy “The New Equation”.