Over the past year, the number of occupations experiencing a skills shortage in Australia has almost doubled, reaching a ‘staggering level’ in some industries, with software and application programmers being one of the five most in-demand workers (The Guardian, 2022). According to the National Skills Commission’s annual update, there are 286 occupations with national shortages. This compares with 153 in 2021.
Labour shortages have become a rising challenge for businesses. There are several factors that contribute to this issue, such as lack of staff engagement, burnout, pandemic choices and applicants simply not having the required skills to fulfil certain roles.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed that Australia’s unemployment rate sits at 3.9% - the lowest in almost 50 years. Over 423 000 job vacancies are currently being advertised and yet one third of businesses say they are struggling to find suitable employees. Some 59% of firms facing this problem claim this is due to applicants not having the qualified skills to perform the needed job. In contrast, 79% of companies argue it is due to the lack of applicants. While manufacturing, trades, hospitality and tourism sectors are faced with labour shortages due to the pandemic, technology and healthcare industries are struggling due to a longer-term shortage of skills.
Australia’s relatively small population and economy may be unappealing to some overseas applicants. In addition, the visa application process in Australia is expensive and slow; even a SC482 visa (for temporary skills shortage) can take up to 65 weeks to process. All these restrictions and lengthy processes can be off-putting for applicants, and in a competitive market, smaller businesses in Australia just might not be able to compete for talent with global giants.
The transition to automation and low code platforms
Now, more and more Australian businesses are turning to automation and digitisation as a solution to the country’s rapid increase in skills shortages.
Lisa Meyer, Senior Associate at Pinsent Masons says, “To truly harness the potential of technology as a tool to boost productivity and address Australia’s skills shortage, Australian businesses need digital infrastructure that is fit for purpose.”
The Federal Government’s Productivity Commission Report addresses that millions of phone apps and computer-assisted services have already shown an increase in efficiency and productivity, contributing to Australia’s economic output prior to the pandemic. They add that the pandemic accelerated the trend, resulting in businesses having to operate online with more people working from home.
As service providers digitise the work they perform, tech deals in the mining industry are increasing in value as they enable data to be shared and accessed faster.
Today, applications need to be built faster than ever, but with Australia facing a massive increase in skills shortage, there is no quick fix. One solution is the need for low code platforms like TOKN which enables organisations to build custom applications with minimal to zero coding efforts.
What is the Tokn solution?
TOKN is a low code platform, which reduces the stress of requiring complex coding skills, enabling businesses to custom build apps smoothly and easily, allowing full integration, being able to create, manage and deploy digital apps faster than ever. The interaction between employees and the TOKN apps can be monitored, which is helpful for situations like completing inductions, where administration users may want to track the progress of their employees and see who has or has not completed their tasks.
“Organisations need to build and customise digital solutions faster than ever yet with less dependency on advanced technical skill. TOKN offers a library of pre-built solutions to help any organisation transform faster and more cost-effectively,” said Clinton Schroeder, CEO Tokn Technology.
TOKN simplifies tasks with its scalable, intuitive interface, enabling fast and easy integration overall, secured with features like pre-designed app templates, pre-built automations and workflows centrally-managed over devices, enhancing communication and operational speed. The use of secure cloud native technology has resulted in users experiencing complete peace of mind with no hefty infrastructure upgrades. There is no need to invest in expensive digital infrastructure either, alleviating the stress of having to run and manage servers or server licences.
With an increasing appetite for innovative, technological solutions to solve the rise in skills shortage, TOKN continues to improve its user-friendly approach to allow administrators to collaboratively build intuitive applications quickly. These drive value without the stress of having to be masters of advanced coding.
