Which opportunities does digitalisation offer for recruiting skilled workers? What challenges do SMEs face in this context? Prof. Dr Dr h.c. Friederike Welter (IfM Bonn/University of Siegen), Prof. Dr Ada Pellert (Rector of the University of Hagen), Dr Dieter Dohmen (Research Institute for Educational and Social Economics) and Roland Schüßler (Federal Employment Agency) discussed these questions at the Berliner Symposium “Transformation gestalten: Digitaler Wandel, Fachkräftegewinnung und Neues Lernen” early December.
A survey of SMEs conducted by IfM Bonn in 2022 showed that digitalising business processes can mitigate the shortage of skilled workers. However, company management must communicate the planned digitalisation projects transparently and involve the workforce in their implementation.
