Most UK workers would shun job offers from non-tech savvy firms, report finds

Half of UK workers would reject a job offer if the company showed no signs of using data to make business decisions, research suggests.  A large majority also said that training in digital and data analytics would also make employers more attractive. This is according to a survey of over 1,100 office workers and C-suite executives from across the UK, conducted by Censuswide on behalf of Tableau Software, the results of which highlight the increasing value workers place on data and analytics.

Most respondents (84%) said that an offer of digital and analytics training would make a job more appealing, a sentiment shared across age groups, particularly those in the 55+ bracket (73%).

An employer's commitment to encouraging new skills is more than just a job perk as an overwhelming number of respondents (90%) consider improving workforce skills vital to their organisation's future success. A large majority (80%) of C-suite respondents also agreed that training or learning and development programmes were valuable to the development of their company's digital and data analytics strategy.

Employee engagement and retention was cited as the most significant benefit of investment in training and learning and development programmes for a company, with 40% choosing that option.

"For a growing number of UK's employees, data has become a recruitment deal-breaker," said James Eiloart, senior vice president EMEA, Tableau. "Our findings reflect a sincere desire among knowledge workers to join organisations that value the ability to access and analyse data, and who encourage their staff to become more data fluent.

"Data-driven organisations are, by their nature, constantly seeking to gain insights and reveal ways to improve themselves and gain a competitive edge. The best employees are no different. They will increasingly gravitate to businesses with a strategy which emphasises the development of data and analytics skills which are vital to future success."

However, despite the overall enthusiasm for it, just over a third (38%) say that they haven't conducted training in the last year, according to the research.