With digital skills becoming essential for communication and collaboration among businesses and professionals, Remote, which offers global HR solutions for distributed teams, surveyed over 500 employers and employees in digital-first or tech industries such as software development, digital marketing, artificial intelligence, and VR to determine which digital skills are in the highest demand and which they believe will be the most important in the future.

Overall, 28% of respondents (employees and employers together) said the most crucial digital skill to businesses is social media, followed by digital marketing (27%) and software development (24%).

With software development already being the third most crucial skill in the present day, the survey also reveals that it will also be the most important digital job in the future (37%), followed by software engineers (36%) and workplace managers (32%).

Job roles, such as head of automation and machine learning engineers, are also listed within the job roles that will be important in the future, with advances in technology meaning businesses will need to find new ways to improve efficiency.

With just over one-fifth (21%) of businesses not providing technology training, there is a great opportunity to become familiar with in-demand skills that can set an aspirant apart from the rest in an application process.With the job market being highly competitive, knowledge of tools used could be the key.

The survey asked respondents which digital tools are used within tech industries, based on the most commonly paid for. Adobe Creative Suite takes first place (with 29% of respondents saying this was paid for within their business) and in a world of remote working, it’s no surprise to see communicative tools such as Gmail (23%), Slack (17%) and Loom (16%) listed within the top 10.

With technology constantly advancing, employers also have a responsibility to support their employees with improving digital skill sets, especially as some skills may be specific to the business/company. So what can employers be doing for their employees to support digital learning?  

"Our survey revealed that nearly 30% of employers are using tools/ software that is 11-15 years old and 26% of respondents also don’t provide technology training. If you expect your team to keep up with digital trends, your equipment and approach to internal training need to complement this,” said Jacob Schatz, head of Automation at Remote.

Internal training will always be a top priority. It's important that employers take the time to showcase to employees how they should use the technology in the most efficient way for their business and why it’s important.

It is also important to consider virtual training options. Just because an employee can’t be there in person, doesn’t mean they should miss out on learning opportunities.

Not everyone learns and works in the same way, so employers should give some flexibility to the tools and tech an employee can use.

Finally, if employers want employees to be tech-savvy and up-to-date, then they also have the responsibility to have the most up-to-date tools and equipment, the survey noted.