The Council is investing in digital services to make us more efficient and make it easier for residents to access services. As part of this, we need to know how digitally skilled our workforce is and where training and development  may be needed so  in April all employees were given the opportunity to take part in a digital skills survey. 

To find out how digitally aware employees are at home and in the workplace the questions  covered a range of topics including communications, handling information and content, buying goods and paying for services, problem solving and being safe and legal online.  The same questions are being used nationally by the Local Government Digital Office so we can see how we measure up against other Councils.

1,232 employees responded and the results overall are positive!   Over the majority of questions asked, the ‘I can do this’ response rated highly, ranging between 80 – 96%.  This shows the employees who took part  are confident in using equipment and have some digital knowledge.

Employees  did highlight a few areas they would like help with. For example, how to work on shared documents with colleagues, 19% can’t do this and 12% want to learn how; how to use Skype and Yammer, 24% can’t do this and 11% want to learn how.  

Employees were also asked if they wanted to volunteer to be a Digital Champion.  A digital champion is someone who is enthusiastic about the benefits of sharing digital skills and is happy to support and help colleagues with everyday digital issues.  So far, there are over 30 digital champions and they will be meeting up over the coming months to look at areas where they can help.