The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated digital transformation in business, including a rapid rise in distributed and hybrid workforces. This exacerbated the digital skill shortages of workers across industries and exposed the need for increased digital skills development across the business profile in Queensland.
These themes had been raised in Jobs Queensland’s Future work for small business: Skills, capabilities and potential that identified a critical success factor for small business was a changed mindset that embraced upskilling and reskilling of the workforce.
Jobs Queensland’s Lifelong learning: The foundation of future work also highlighted the need for upskilling for workers to remain current with the changing working landscape and developing digital literacy skills is essential to harness additional opportunities that are on offer.
The Digital Skills to respond to changing workplace environments project will analyse the increase in breadth of digital skills required in the workplace.
PROJECT DELIVERABLES
RESEARCH
Jobs Queensland undertook a literature review to identify and share strategies or activities undertaken by businesses that provide best practice examples of how small to medium enterprises (SMEs) can address this issue.
This work responds to the workforce digital skills needs identified by Business Chamber Queensland (BCQ) and the Regional Jobs Committees, as well as matters raised at the Queensland Workforce Summit about the need for upskilling works’ digital literacies.
READ THE DIGITAL LITERACIES IMPERATIVE
FOR QUEENSLAND BUSINESSES REPORT
(PDF, 1 MB)
NEXT STEPS
Jobs Queensland will collaborate with relevant industry bodies to identify place-based case studies and provide contextualised advice on skills development, opportunities and challenges for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), social enterprises and the health and agriculture industry sectors.
- SMEs - Opportunities and challenges moving to an online presence
- Social enterprises - Capabilities and challenges for digital business activities
- Health - Skills development needs in the delivery of allied health services in regional and remote areas
- Agriculture - Skills development opportunities to address increasing use of technology in agricultural practices.
OTHER RESOURCES
Future work for small business: Skills, capabilities and potential
This report examines the high-level skills and capability needs of Queensland small businesses and identifies ways these needs can be supported, particularly in a post-COVID-19 world and against a backdrop of significant shifts in the way businesses and individuals work.
Lifelong learning: The foundation of future work
This report describes a model for enabling and encouraging individuals to adopt a lifelong learning mindset and a rationale for industries and businesses to foster a learning culture in their workplace. It also examines how other countries and parts of the world are successfully building lifelong learning cultures.
Current partnership with Business Chamber Queensland (BCQ)
Jobs Queensland and Business Chamber Queensland are working together to deliver joint research, mentoring, advocacy and support for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Workforce Planning Connect
A suite of free resources designed to support employers to plan for the future of their business, regardless of their experience. It can also support you to access the skills and workforce you need, now and into the future.
Queensland agriculture workforce planning project
Jobs Queensland partnered with the Queensland Farmers’ Federation and collaboration with the Rural Jobs and Skills Alliance to deliver a workforce plan for the agriculture industry in Queensland, address current and emerging workforce issues experienced across the agriculture sector.
Last updated 26 May 2023