HR professionals and educators took centre stage at November’s Chamber Lunch, which sought to address one of Guernsey’s most persistent problems: securing and retaining talent.
Chamber Director Justin Bellinger moderated the session, while the panel was led by Ladies College Principal Daniele Harford-Fox, Guernsey Institute Principal Louise Misselke, and Director of Focus HR Solutions Becky Machon. Sponsored by BPP, the session saw the panel assess common personnel pain points within the business community and reveal how educators, managers, and employer policies must evolve to ensure the workforce’s future.
Throughout the discussion, key points included the adaptation of the education system to suit a changing society, delineation between skills and knowledge, the place of older people in the workplace, and the threat and/or opportunity of AI on learning. However, the prevailing message was one of flexibility – all members of the panel agreed that maximising Guernsey’s valuable power of collaboration and making sure that educators, employers, and government alike are as flexible as possible is key to a happy and enduring workforce.
Daniele made the unique advantages of the Bailiwick clear, asking the audience to consider ‘the power of what we have’. She added, ‘The close integration of industry and education is not something that could ever happen in the UK. We have the size to be nimble and agile but then we struggle to commit [to initiatives].’ Her prevailing thought therefore urged collaboration and a call to action to ‘be brave’ and push for new, innovative opportunities.
Such change included the challenging and vital topic of mental health. Becky noted that, in her experience, the primary driver of workplace sickness stems from mental health issues. Indeed, she followed by saying that reports have seen Gen Z employees take as much as a day a week off as sick leave in recent years. Becky therefore supported Danielle’s call for greater flexibility, noting that supporting staff and children alike with their mental health will ultimately contribute to greater productivity.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, The Guernsey Institute’s Louise urged the audience of business professionals to consider the value of apprenticeships. Noting that Guernsey has a 90% achievement rate versus the UK’s 53%, the opportunities to secure talent through the Institute, whether that be recent school leavers or older people looking for a career change, was clear.
Louise also reminded employers that they can engage with the Institute in facilitating opportunities for people of all ages. She surprised the room by revealing the Institute’s average aged student is 25 and their oldest ever student was 86. During the Q&A session where participants revealed their own frustrations with age discrimination, many were encouraged to hear of the opportunities available to people looking to continue work past retirement age or retrain to change career.
The issue of AI was front of mind for Danielle following the Ladies College’s recent engagement with University College London (UCL) to create an AI syllabus. Crucially, she flagged that the rising threat of AI will inevitably mean a significant change to how many businesses operate, particularly in office-based sectors. As such, Danielle was focused on updating the education system accordingly: ‘we’ve been teaching broadly the same way for 200 years’, she noted. The method of fact-based, right or wrong assessment will need to evolve when AI becomes a bigger part of working life. Danielle resolved to see students taught meaningful skills in communication, leadership, and other practical skills while being encouraged to take risks without the fear of failure.
The conversation around AI reflected a wider discussion around the delineation between skills and knowledge. While the panel were all agreed on the need to ‘upskill’ employees and consider educational alternatives to an academic pathway, Louise also noted the need to marry the two. She aptly pointed out that skills cannot prosper without the correct knowledge, and academia remains important in crafting thoughtful and impactful business professionals. Danielle built on this point by proposing the application of the school methodology of learning, of ‘deconstruction and scaffolding’, to soft skills such as leadership and communication. Implementing this kind of learning in the workplace could avoid managers who excel only technically and cannot deal with people.
It became clear that the issues facing Guernsey are pan-industry. Becky began the session by highlighting the island’s startling 1,000 vacancies figure and how all her clients have experienced challenges, from those in financial services, to trades, to beauty businesses. She aptly noted that changing attitudes towards work and a lack of empowerment to drive ambition have contributed to these difficulties. The panel were agreed that Gen Z have new objectives and priorities, particularly living in a world dominated by both a cost-of-living crisis and a heightened mental health crisis. The group concluded that working with all employees to be as flexible as possible is preferable, though they conceded it is not always feasible.
Positively, the session demonstrated that while Guernsey has unique recruitment challenges it also enjoys bespoke opportunities. The need for flexibility and collaboration between and within the worlds of business and education was summarised by Danielle’s closing remarks. ‘Change is coming, and Guernsey is now in prime position to ride the wave of success, not be swallowed by it.’
