Like our society, local authorities are seeing their missions, uses and tools evolve and become increasingly paperless. Local authority employees are faced with major changes that require them to understand and master the digital environment. So, for the first time, three players have pooled their expertise to measure the actual level of mastery of digital skills among local authority employees, and thus provide the keys to supporting the digital transformation of local authorities.
Pix, the online public service for digital skills, Les Interconnectés, the national association for the dissemination of digital uses in the service of territories, and Syntec Numérique, the leading trade union for digital companies, have joined forces to carry out a survey combining an online questionnaire and a test on the Pix platform. Composed of questions requiring respondents to handle files, perform actions and answer questions on digital culture, the test analyzed the level of digital skills on key themes for agents (personal data, security, e-mail, online collaboration, office automation, social networks, etc.).
A total of 1337 agents took part in the survey during the last quarter of 2020. The study established 3 levels of proficiency: beginner (performing simple actions, sometimes with assistance, in situations frequently encountered in one’s job), intermediate (coping alone in most common situations frequently encountered) and autonomous (sufficient background to master new situations and understand the issues involved).
Survey highlights
- 35% of respondents have a sufficient degree of mastery to be autonomous in their digital uses, whatever their mission.
- 27% of respondents have a beginner’s level and 38% an intermediate level, i.e. an insufficient degree of mastery to be able to evolve “serenely” in a digitized environment.
- 52% of Category C staff would like training to develop their digital skills
- Although more at ease overall, agents under 34 remain vulnerable when it comes to personal data and security issues.
By targeting areas for improvement, this survey aims to help elected representatives and local civil service managers identify their employees’ training needs, and prepare for their professional future by anticipating the jobs of today and tomorrow through forward-looking management of jobs and skills. This is one way in which local authorities can fully exercise their social responsibility to support their employees in acquiring the skills they need to do their jobs, but also those that are useful in everyday life.
Gaps between actual mastery and perceived mastery
The first finding of the study is based on a very real situation: during the lockdown, many of the agents found themselves completely autonomous in their daily professional digital uses. So, to the question “Were you hampered during the confinement period by your lack of digital proficiency in the performance of your duties?”, 73% of participants answered in the negative, affirming that they were perfectly at ease with digital technology.
However, the results of the real-life test deployed among respondents reveal a very different picture: 27% have a beginner’s level, 38% have an intermediate level and only 35% have a sufficient level to really master professional digital uses and understand the issues involved. This figure highlights the fact that “intermediate” respondents feel that their level of mastery is overestimated in relation to their actual level.
Uncontrolled use of key issues for local authorities
The study reveals a wide disparity in levels of proficiency, depending on the topics covered. While there is a natural mastery of classic uses such as e-mail, the level of mastery decreases as uses become more complex. Digital skills related to security or personal data management, for example, are still far from being mastered by employees.
Naturally, age is a determining factor in the level of proficiency, with only 9% of under-34s having a beginner’s level, compared with 48% of those aged 55 and over. And yet, despite their higher skill levels, under-34s are sometimes too quick to refer to themselves as “digital natives”, and remain vulnerable when it comes to security and personal data, skills that are essential to their business.
Disparities between different categories of agent
Unsurprisingly, the survey found a majority of respondents in Category A (45%). This group is often more exposed to digital tools, yet even if 46% have an autonomous level, more than half of Category A respondents don’t have sufficient mastery to master new situations and understand the issues at stake (19% have a beginner’s level and 34% an intermediate level).
At the same time, 35% of category C employees are beginners. This figure can be explained by the fact that this population is less likely to work in a digital environment. However, of the three categories, category C agents are the ones who show a marked interest in digital skills: 52% of them are in demand of digital training.
Digital training is a real challenge for employability within the civil service. The mastery of digital skills is an essential lever for career development, particularly for employees wishing to take on new missions.
“We decided to carry out this survey by pooling our expertise, with the aim of informing the debate on the digital transformation of local authorities, and in particular on the challenge of mastering digital skills. The findings of our survey are twofold. On the one hand, there is an urgent need to support this transformation by offering local staff ambitious training programs tailored to their needs. On the other hand, we need to radically change our approach: the challenge is not or no longer to provide training in this or that “tool”, but to equip everyone with a broad, cross-disciplinary digital culture, enabling them to adapt to constantly evolving digital environments. The good news is that it appears that many agents are asking for this themselves! “
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Benjamin Marteau, Director of Pix, Céline Colucci, General Delegate of Les Interconnectés, Laurent Sicart, Director and Chairman of Syntec Numérique’s Cities and Territories Committee
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