Work Wise Week: UK must apply innovative thinking to be more inclusive employer

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UK businesses, while very innovative technologically, need to start applying more innovative thinking about how, where and when work is carried out so that they don't exclude the large pool of people who want to work but can't for whatever reason.

And, in a stark warning to industry Sir Digby Jones, former director general of the CBI and current UK Skills Envoy, said that if we don't act now "Our kids will never forgive us."

"There is one big obstacle right in the way of the UK train going forward. We don't have enough skilled people. We don't have a system of work that's going to enable us to put the ball in the net," he said, speaking at Work Wise UK's summit to mark the start of national flexible working week.

"There are seven million adults [living here] that can't read. They are functionally illiterate," he added. "It's Britain's dirty little secret."

Referencing a worker with a disability that he met during a visit to a commercial site when he at the CBI, Jones provided a heart warming tale of someone who is much happier now that they are contributing on an equal level to everyone else in the workforce.

"I asked them what they liked most about working and they said 'I pay tax. I feel part of society and feel that I'm needed.' That spoke volumes to me," said Jones.

"Every day, we all take it fore granted that we are needed. When you don't feel needed, you lose self respect and might become a burden on the healthcare system. The bloke at the end of the street selling white powder seems to have the answers so you nick my car so that you can pay for it. If you don't care about yourself, you certainly don't care about the environment and it becomes a nasty and unsafe world."

As well as opening up the job market to more people, a change in thinking is also required to help the UK succeed in an increasingly globalised world where, according to Jones, "China wants our lunch and India wants our for dinner."

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