Workers overwhelmed, confused by data

Qlik’s latest APAC Data Literacy Survey shows that a skills gap and lack of enablement are preventing workers from making the best use of data.

In Australia, only 20% of employees feel confident in their data literacy skills — the ability to read, work with, analyse and argue with data — despite pressure to use data within the workplace.

Unsurprisingly, almost two-thirds (65%) of Australian employees believe they have to deal with a higher volume of data at work than three years ago.

The survey has revealed that:

• 82% of data literates say they are performing very well at work, compared with under half (49%) of those who are not data literate;
• 91% agreed that data helps them do their job better;
• 76% think higher data literacy would enhance their credibility in the workplace;
• 63% believe data literacy would increase their value at work.

“In today’s data-driven economy, data literacy is as important as the ability to read and write. In fact, being able to read, work, analyse and argue with data is critical to helping us make better decisions,” said Jordan Morrow, head of data literacy at Qlik.

“As a result, we are increasingly seeing these skills in high demand by employers across Australia and beyond.”

Workers also feel the need for more data literacy training and education initiatives:

• Only 25% believe that everyone in their organisation is empowered to use data and are data literate;
• Only 18% strongly believe they have had adequate training to be data literate;
• 81% of graduate entry-level employees do not classify themselves as data literate, demonstrating a new-age skills gap entering the workforce.

Yet the majority (66%) of full-time workers said they would be willing to invest more time and energy in improving their data literacy skills, if given the chance.

According to the survey, Australia has the same overall data literacy (20%) as the rest of the Asia Pacific (regional average 20%).

Similar to the regional average (40%), two in five (41%) Australians admit to making decisions based on ‘gut feel’ rather than data — and senior executives (C-Suite and above) do this the most (72% versus 54% regionally) compared to executives of other levels within the organisation.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/TSUNG-LIN WU

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