Independent research commissioned by career guidance app Tigerhall has revealed alarming findings regarding Singapore’s level of professional knowledge and skills. The research found that as much as 74 percent white-collar workers feel they lack the expertise needed to do their job well.

It appears that the number of years in the workplace had little impact on whether respondents felt well-equipped to do their job, with only 12 percentage points difference between 21-year-olds and the 45+ age category. And over half (57 percent) senior and director level professionals, those highest paid and responsible for the company’s financial success, also reporting that they lacked the necessary skills and knowledge to perform well at work.

Shockingly 78 percent of those who felt ill-equipped held university degree level education and 69 percent a Masters degree, raising serious questions about the content and value University degrees, Masters and adult courses are providing.

Tigerhall CEO Nellie Wartoft says, “The research is sadly what we expected and reflects the sentiment we’ve seen in the market and amongst our users. Adults are not receiving the level of professional knowledge and skills they need and deserve. Formal education is struggling to measure up and it’s only getting worse due to the speed of change we’re seeing in the workplace. The creation of new job roles such as data scientist and conversion rate optimisation specialist, new ways of working such as location independent teams, and soft skills needed for managing and developing the wave of Gen Z and Millennials in the workplace means traditional education just isn’t providing what people need to keep up.”

“The research is sadly what we expected and reflects the sentiment we’ve seen in the market and amongst our users. Adults are not receiving the level of professional knowledge and skills they need and deserve. Formal education is struggling to measure up and it’s only getting worse due to the speed of change we’re seeing in the workplace. The creation of new job roles such as data scientist and conversion rate optimisation specialist, new ways of working such as location independent teams, and soft skills needed for managing and developing the wave of Gen Z and Millennials in the workplace means traditional education just isn’t providing what people need to keep up.”

The research also found that when it came to what was lacking, survey respondents were split equally between soft skills such as managing people, negotiation or presenting and job role specific skills such as digital marketing, financial modeling, and agile methodologies.

Wartoft continued; “It’s not just the content which is out of touch in most existing education settings but where the knowledge transferred from. You have to ask yourself, “Should I be learning from someone who hasn’t ever achieved what I want to achieve, someone who has been out of the industry for years, or do I want to learn from professionals who are at the top of their game in the corporate world with a proven track record of success?”. We all need to be more discerning when it comes to knowledge and skills”

The impacts of the findings are being felt both by the individuals and the companies they work for. 56 percent of respondents said that as a result of their lacking skills and knowledge they have made mistakes at work and are not performing at the required level. 43 percent feel unhappy at work and a further 25 percent want to leave their current job. 

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