Middle-skill-level Employees and Technological Environments

Abstract

A majority of human resource executives report that their inability to attract and retain middle-skills talent frequently affects their firm’s performance. Middle-skills jobs, those that require more than a high school diploma, less than a four-year college degree, and pay above the national living wage, account for nearly half of labor demanded in the United States. As technology transforms the workplace, digital skills are becoming increasingly important and in higher demand. In today’s dynamic workforce, managers are facing managing and developing interdisciplinary and multilevel teams while combating a technical skills divide (lack of qualified workers), making it difficult to recruit and retain a high-technology, middle-skill-level workforce. This chapter focuses on addressing unique challenges relevant to recruitment, upskilling, and management best practices as they relate to the integration of technology and middle-skill-level workers in a highly successful workplace.

Citation

Hughes, C., Robert, L., Frady, K. and Arroyos, A. (2019), "Middle-skill-level Employees and Technological Environments", Managing Technology and Middle- and Low-skilled Employees (The Changing Context of Managing People), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 13-28. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78973-077-720191002