Skill Gap Analyzing & Recover

 

What is Skill Gap?

Skill Gap is the difference in the skills required on the job and the actual skills possessed by the employees. Skill gap presents an opportunity for the company and the employee to identify the missing skills and try to gain them.

Employees are recruited by companies to work on fulfilling company objectives. Hence, people with the correct skill sets are recruited by companies. However, often it happens that employees lack certain knowledge & training which creates a skill gap. Because of this the employee is unable to perform the complete job. 

How to identify skill gaps in the workplace

The first step is to take a closer look at employee performance in order to identify skill gaps. This involves gathering data in order to determine competency and performance gaps and find root causes that need addressing. As a side note, this process is also helpful when you want to discover employee training needs.

Looking at the wrong data or administering the wrong approach can have severe consequences when it comes to your company’s training, development, and even operational processes. And for that reason, it’s best to focus on data gathering methodologies when it comes to identifying gaps of essential skills in the workplace.

There are numerous methodologies that you can employ in data-gathering. The best approach, however, is to use at least three. Not only will it give you different perspectives on the issue, but different approaches will also provide you more insights into what the real issues and root causes are.

More importantly, multiple data sources can be used to cross-validate data, confirm analysis results, and ultimately, properly ratify and identify skill gaps.

For training professionals, analyzing skills gaps is one of the most effective methods for determining training needs. A skills gap analysis won’t only show what skills need to be trained or developed in the short-term, but it’ll also affect your L&D strategy in the long-run.

Skill Gap Analysis

Identifying skill gaps is essential for the companies to ensure that the workforce is well trained, knowledgeable & better equipped to perform the job. This analysis helps achieve the following objectives:

1. Helps one refine and define skills the agency needs, now and in the future

2. Make employees aware about the critical skills they’ll need to grow

3. Helps in recruiting efforts when current employees don’t have the skills or the interest

In terms of banking, an example of a skill gap could be if an employee lacked the ability to cash government bonds.

Skill Gap Solutions

There are several ways in which employee skill gaps can be reduced thereby benefiting the organization. Some solutions are:

1. Better training of employees so that they acquire the required skills to complete a particular task

2. It can be reduced by exposing employees to better resources & help them improve their knowledge

3. Hire a third party which has got the required skill to execute the job

4. Recruitment and selection of better skilled employees can remove the skill gap as a long term perspective

The Importance of Regular Analysis

Well done! You now have the knowledge to conduct a skills gap analysis and address your current skills gaps. However, a skills gap analysis is not a ‘one-and-done’ business activity. To ensure your skills remain up-to-date, you should be prepared to conduct a regular analysis across your workforce.

In fact, whenever you develop or change your business strategy, you need to consider whether your employees have the skills to make it happen. You often require a skills gap analysis when you miss business objectives, have problems meeting business goals and introduce new technologies.

Having a systematic process can help your organisation in the following ways:

1. It helps you to make the best use of your training budget

On average, companies are spending $1,300 per employee, per year, on training. Skills gaps analysis gives you all the information you need to identify and fix training needs. As such, it can help you identify what training you should prioritise to get the most out of your training investment. 

2. It can improve employee retention and productivity

47% of generation Y and Z employees are worried that their skill set is or will be redundant in the next four to five years. As such, employees are increasingly keen to build their skills and see their careers grow. In fact, according to the LinkedIn 2021 Workplace Report, 94% of employees would stay in an organisation longer if their employer invested in training. 

A skills gap analysis can mark the beginning of that investment, while giving workers the skills they need to perform better in their roles. Once you have analysed the data, you can deliver personalised training programmes that will keep your learners engaged. A win-win if there ever was one, right?

3. It prepares your company for disruption

Future-proofing your organizational skill set can be extremely beneficial in the long run. Whether it’s developing AI, analyzing data better or automating key processes, you should ensure you’re not left scrambling whilst your competitors speed on ahead.

4. It helps you to build strong teams for your future business needs

A skills gap analysis plays a big role in your strategic decision-making. You can prepare your workforce for the future by proactively building skills you may not necessarily need right now, but will be essential in the future. In doing so, your workforce will know what to prioritise and will be able to focus their learning. 

Final Words

When you analyse the skills shortages in your workforce, you get useful information about your teams’ strengths and weaknesses. As such, conducting a skills gap analysis will help you make sure your talent meets the needs of your future business. 

It’s a way for you to get an overview of the capability of your whole workforce, while being able to boost individual learning. Strategic workforce planning will ultimately lead to better productivity and improved competitive advantage. And you can rest assured you have taken the appropriate measures to address any skills gaps threatening the growth of your organisation!