Employers' satisfaction and perceptions of the technological skills required for the workforce

This study examined employer satisfaction with employees' technological skills to identify the need for technological proficiency improvement in the areas of computer, information, and integration literacy. Toffler's theory of technological change and innovation was used as the theoretical base of this study. The theory stated that by increasing students' ability to adapt to changes at a faster rate, they will be ready to adapt to society's ever-changing technological needs, when they become a part of the workforce. A quantitative, nonexperimental, correlational analysis was selected to address the two research questions. The first research question asks if there is a correlation between the employers' perception of employees' competency in the technology skills brought to the job and employers' satisfaction regarding employees' technology job performance; while the second question asks if there is a correlation between employers' perception of the importance of technological skills needed to successfully meet job requirements and the perceived need for employees to improve in those skills. A researcher-designed survey was used to gather data. The results indicated significant correlations exist between perceived employee technology competency and employer satisfaction as well as between perceived importance of computer and integration skills and employees' need for improvement in those skills. This information can be used to promote social change through the implementation in technological literacy education to improve students' opportunities to obtain jobs, in enforcing technology literacy as a requirement for college graduation, and in changing the technological curriculum design at higher educational institutions to further align with the workforce needs.