Tackling the tech talent shortage

Oliver Latham at Pearson argues that it’s time to redesign roles and rethink talent strategy

 

The UK’s tech sector is grappling with a new kind of volatility in its skills gap challenge. The rapid rise of AI and digital agents is reshaping what work looks like, creating fresh uncertainty about which skills matter, how long they’ll stay relevant, and who will be equipped to keep up.

 

In response, organisations are rightly investing in reskilling and retraining; but the pace of change raises a more fundamental challenge: not just how we prepare people for roles, but whether the roles themselves are keeping pace with the future of work.

 

New research suggests we’re approaching the problem from the wrong end. The issue isn’t just about supply; it’s about structure. Instead of assuming the solution lies in skills and talent, perhaps it’s time to ask a more fundamental question: are the jobs themselves fit for purpose in an age of automation?

 

 

The skills gap is structural, not just numerical

Today’s tech roles are complex, but their burden isn’t always technical. A surprising amount of time is lost to tasks that, while necessary, add little strategic value: rewriting legacy code, compiling documentation, running backups, and triaging minor bugs. These tasks aren’t unimportant, but the people hired to do them can offer far more than just keeping the wheels turning.

 

Pearson’s latest Skills Outlook report examined five of the UK’s most common and in-demand tech roles, from software developers to systems analysts. We found that by 2029, each of these roles could reclaim between 5.2 and 7.8 hours per week, nearly a full working day, through the more innovative use of automation and AI tools.

 

This is not a forecast about job losses. It’s a provocation to rethink how time is spent. Across these roles, the same pattern emerges: valuable time is consumed by routine tasks that machines are increasingly capable of handling. Freeing up just a few hours a week per employee could unlock 10 to 20 per cent of their working time. If business leaders think creatively and proactively about how to upskill and redeploy their existing talent, pursuing a strategy of ‘role redesign’, they can address urgent skills gaps while boosting job security for valued employees.

 

 

What AI actually changes

Too often, conversations about AI in the workplace become fixated on extremes, such as wholesale job automation or abstract future-gazing, but the fundamental transformation is quieter and more pragmatic. AI can work in partnership with humans to enhance their performance.

 

Tools like ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot are already helping developers accelerate code generation, improve system documentation and support knowledge sharing. Meanwhile, robotic process automation (RPA) is steadily taking over the kinds of digital administrative tasks that drain time and attention, such as generating reports, performing file cleanup, and managing scheduled maintenance.

 

The next wave of change is being driven by agents, AI systems that don’t just respond to commands, but can carry out multi-step tasks, take initiative, and collaborate across workflows. These agents aren’t a substitute for human judgement, but a support that can extend what individuals and teams are capable of.

 

New modelling shows that computer systems analysts alone could recover nearly seven hours a week by 2029 by shifting low-complexity user support and troubleshooting to AI-powered tools. Systems software developers will likely gain over five hours per week by automating error correction and patch deployment through software robotics.

 

What’s important here is not the novelty of the technology, but its application. None of these tasks vanish entirely, but many are transformed. The outcome shouldn’t be redundancy, but a relief; a workday refocused on creativity and impact, where agents handle the routine and people can re-engage with the work that truly drives progress.

 

 

Redesigning roles with AI agents

So, what becomes possible when this time is reclaimed?

 

The potential goes well beyond efficiency. With less time sunk into repetitive tasks, tech professionals can spend more time on the work that matters most: designing resilient infrastructure, exploring emerging technologies, improving cybersecurity, or collaborating across functions.

 

These are the areas where human input will make the difference. Pearson’s new report notes that interpersonal and strategic activities, such as supervision, team discussions, and mentoring, are largely untouched by automation. These elements are often sidelined when workloads spike, yet they’re vital for team cohesion, innovation, and long-term planning.

 

Rebalancing roles to centre on human judgement and creativity, with AI agents supporting the routine and surfacing insights, improves output and increases fulfilment. When people are empowered to work on what they do best, they are more likely to stay, grow, and thrive as leaders.

 

 

The cost of carrying on as we are

It’s tempting to think of role redesign as an aspirational exercise, something to be tackled once hiring slows down or budget pressures ease. But the opportunity cost of inaction is already visible. Overstretched teams deliver less value, training investments go underutilised, and innovation is deferred in favour of operational triage.

 

There’s a cautionary lesson in the many corporate initiatives that experimented with protected innovation time, carving out space for employees to pursue exploration work outside of their core responsibilities. In several cases, this approach has sparked some of the most valuable innovations within those organisations. That kind of breathing room is difficult to imagine in teams drowning in backlog.

 

The tools that could help reclaim time already exist. What’s needed is the intent to use them meaningfully. That requires rethinking job design not as a static exercise but as a living process and something to revisit as technologies evolve and work patterns shift.

 

 

A more brilliant strategy than hiring alone

In a competitive labour market, the organisations that thrive will not be the ones with the largest recruitment budgets. They will be the ones who get more from the talent they already have by designing roles that utilise time, skills, and emerging technologies more effectively.

 

This research doesn’t prescribe a uniform solution but rather offers a starting point: examine closely how work is done, not just who is doing it. Reassigning time and effort from low-value tasks to higher-order thinking is not a luxury; it’s a necessity.

 

 

Designing the future from the inside out

The future of work won’t be defined by how many people you can attract but by how effectively you deploy the ones already in the room. Smarter role design is one of the most powerful and overlooked ways to build resilient, future-ready teams.

 

Reimagining how time is spent is not just a response to a skills crisis. It’s a strategy for leading through it. 

 

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Oliver Latham is Regional Sales Lead for EMEA in Pearson’s Enterprise Learning and Skills Business Unit

 

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com and Ivan Bajic