Upskilling workforce can save City firms millions

Piling money into upskilling existing employees can save banks, brokers and fund managers millions of pounds, reveals a fresh study published today.

Investing in improving staff’s skills can generate cost savings of up to £49,100 per employee compared to hiring new talent, according to a report by the Financial Services Skills Commission (FSSC) and consultancy PwC.

Andy Haldane, head of the levelling up taskforce and the Bank of England’s former chief economist, said tackling the skills shortages in the UK “calls for a large and long-lived programme of re-skilling the workforce, in financial and professional services and beyond”.

The scale of cost savings that City firms can unlock from spending money on improving staff skills demonstrates upskilling is a sensible route to boosting profits, the FSSC said.

“Our business case clearly demonstrates that reskilling can generate a real return on investment, boosting productivity and competitiveness,” Claire Tunley, chief executive of the FSSC, said.