The Leeds Future Talent Plan – spearheaded by Leeds City Council – launched in September 2022 in order to support skills and talent development in Leeds, in direct response to changes in the labour market and policy landscape seen in recent years.
The strategy, which has been created by the city and sets out our ambitions for Leeds, is focused on supporting our people and businesses to thrive through inclusive growth opportunities. Primarily, the strategy aims to address issues such as unemployment, equality inclusion and diversity, whilst also offering support to priority sectors including digital and tech. The Future Talent Plan also seeks to meet the city’s ambition to be net zero by 2030, whilst also ensuring appropriate skills are available to meet current and future workforce demands.
Key to the success of Future Talent Leeds is a collaborative approach which focuses on maximising all available resources and partnerships, and improving education, training opportunities and addressing the digital skills gap are all priority elements. We also need to work in partnership with higher and further education providers in the city and the wider city region to create and align learning and training with the skills employers are looking for – which will, in turn, drive up standards and boost productivity across the city’s economy.
The collaborative plan seeks to help people, businesses and the Leeds economy to flourish, and is based on the following key principles:
A key element to creating inclusive growth is a commitment to equality, inclusion and diversity at the individual organisational level. Through the Future Talent Plan, employers are encouraged to offer inclusive recruitment practices, safe working environments, training and development for all, and equity to growth opportunities.
Employers signing up to support Future Talent Leeds are asked to make organisational pledges with realistic actions they can deliver over the next 3-5 years. The framework of pledges covers several options, including raising the bar on inclusive recruitment and supporting those in the city who need our help the most to gain skills or work, and help boost the local economy.
A diverse workforce not only helps address local inequalities and boost the economy but will provide increased competitive advantage for organisations. Diverse teams drive innovation, productivity and an enhanced organisational culture, driving outputs and outperforming non diverse teams. Diversity can lead to greater efficiency and better equipped teams to meet client and customer needs through a collective intelligence, using a variety of perspectives to solve problems, make constructive decisions and create new ideas.
In a competitive market for tech talent, thinking differently about how and where organisations recruit and find new talent could provide an advantage. Being open to recruiting from new channels, such as bootcamp graduates, early talent from non-STEM courses, colleagues who are neurodiverse, and encouraging diverse and usually underrepresented groups to apply for tech roles could help to tackle the digital skills gap and increase the talent pool from which organisations can recruit talent from. Employers need to consider what soft skills they value and seek these in new talent, with an organisational development plan to provide training and progression to shape employees and meet the skills needs of the organisation.
Organisations that are actively taking steps to increase diversity and inclusion in their workforce, will be positively influencing their organisational culture. Each organisation will have a unique culture which is driven and influenced by their leaders and helps to inform the values and actions of their teams. A culture which is seen as inclusive can help to create a unique selling point and positive brand image for attracting and retaining talent. In a competitive talent market, this can help an organisation stand out and provide benefits and a culture which employees value over remuneration.
Future Talent Plan Leeds has received pledges from several groups and organisations to date. These include Women Friendly Leeds who’s pledge focuses on encouraging employers to be Women Friendly recruiters, while 100% Digital Leeds is committed to ensuring everyone in Leeds has equal opportunity to use digital tools, technology and services.
Workfinder is another organisation helping to diversify workforces and has partnered with Leeds City Council to support employers to connect with young people in Leeds. They provide a platform which uses AI to match candidates to relevant short and long-term employment opportunities. It promotes fair recruitment by removing bias, and shortlists typically prioritise applications from women and people from ethnic minority backgrounds. Workfinder also provides mentoring, online short courses and more, to help build employability skills and talent for the future.