How to handle skill gap obstacles at your company
Companies know skilling is essential in today’s labor market. Candidates know it, too, with 74% of employees preferring to work with organizations that offer upskilling opportunities. With room for constant learning amid technological advancements, organizations need to invest in evolving their workers’ skillset to prevent their employees from having skill gaps.
Here are some strategic ways to handle skilling challenges at your organization.
What are skilling challenges?
Skilling challenges are when organizations struggle to ensure their employees have the most up-to-date skills to address industry demands and future job requirements.
Skilling is the action of training a worker to do a particular task.
To avoid your employee’s current knowledge and practices becoming outdated, employers need to provide upskilling opportunities that keep up with technological advancements.
Employers can face many challenges when they’re implementing upskilling initiatives. Some challenges include budget for training, an unwillingness to change from employees, a disconnect between a company’s business goals and the training they’re providing, and difficulty balancing daily responsibilities.
Six ways to address skills gaps at your company
1. Stay up to date on skills relevant to your industry
One way to stay up to date on new industry trends and emerging skills is by attending webinars and virtual workshops. Industry thought leaders can provide valuable insights to mold your organization’s upskilling strategy. Additionally, subscribing to journals, blogs, virtual forums, and trade publications can ensure your training initiatives align with industry standards.
2. Prioritize skilling at your company
To implement skilling into your organization’s processes, you should define specific goals for skill development to be able to track your employee’s growth.
An important factor in prioritizing skilling at your organization is getting your senior leadership’s buy-in. This would involve developing and presenting a business case that shows the positive relationship between skills-building programs and noticeable organizational outcomes.
Allocating resources such as time, budget, and tools are essential to your skilling strategy. This ensures your skilling plan is realistic, sustainable, and can provide positive results for performance and growth.
3. Be clear about career opportunities
It’s necessary to be transparent when boosting employee engagement with skilling initiatives. Clear communication can help align employee’s individual goals with your organization’s objectives.
To ensure clarity for employees, you should use career mapping to show their progress, develop mentorship programs, and engage in consistent discussions with them. Showing the link between career progression and upskilling initiatives can show employees the attainable results upskilling offers them.
4. Optimize investment skilling initiatives
Reviewing the return on investment (ROI) of skilling programs can help you see an improvement in your employees’ performance and track their retention rates. Additionally, evaluating ROI can help you gauge the fulfillment of your succession planning efforts.
It’s important to balance internal training with external hiring. To maintain this balance, you need to clearly understand the skills gaps in your organization and the time and resources it takes to upskill your internal workforce versus the faster results external recruitment can provide.
When deciding between upskilling your current employees and hiring new talent, it’s wise to take factors like your organization’s strategic direction, the depth of your current workforce’s skills, and the possibility of cultivating a culture of continuous learning and loyalty.
5. Think of different ways to train and develop employees
It’s important to consider which training methods you use in your skilling initiatives.
- Microlearning: short, focused learning segments allow employees to process information quickly and efficiently. This method caters to short attention spans and jam-packed schedules.
- Experiential learning: combines hands-on experience and interactive simulations while promoting skill acquisition through practical application. This learning method enhances retention and applicability in the real world.
Also, technology-based learning platforms create a personalized experience for employees by providing learning paths that are specific to employee’s individual roles and career aspirations.
6. Hire new talent to fill in skill gaps
If you’re recognizing skills gaps during performance reviews or not meeting strategic goals due to your current employees not having the right expertise, you may need to hire additional talent for your team.
When hiring new employees, employers need to highlight their upskilling initiatives to attract talent. This shows interested candidates that you’re committed to providing growth opportunities for your employees.
Talent solutions firms like Addison Group can find talent that fits your team’s needs. Our hiring experts can tap into our expansive talent pool to find candidates with the specific skillset you need to move your organization forward.
Stay up to date on skilling challenges
Handling skills gaps is necessary for organizations that value fostering an environment that can adapt to the ever-changing demands of an industry.
Effective skilling is not a one-and-done process. It’s an ongoing practice that leads to consistent growth and innovation for your employees and allows them to be competitive in the industry.
By implementing these strategies into your organization, you’re actively boosting your skilling initiatives and increasing your employee retention rates.
If you’re looking for talent with a specific skillset, Addison Group can find you the right person. For more than 20 years, we’ve been focused on quality not quotas. That means we find talent with the skills you’re looking for, not just who’s available. Reach out to our team of experts to find the perfect match.
