According to PWC, 74% of business leaders are concerned about the availability of key skills in the organization.
As we dive into the digital age, businesses require employees with diverse skills who can multi-task, take up different roles, and collaborate with internal/external departments. Therefore, the onus is on managers to keep track of the capabilities of the workforce and gain a competitive advantage.
However, many companies look at the employees’ skills at the time of hiring (based on specific requirements of the role) and stop skill assessment post-hiring. Over time, they fail to identify the availability of key skills in the organization.
So, the pertinent question is – how can organizations understand their current skills state?
Maintaining a skills inventory helps organizations identify the workforce’s capabilities and know where the gaps reside and what skills are required in the future.
This post highlights how skills inventory can help optimize the workforce and improve business outcomes.
Table of Contents
What is a skills inventory?
Skills inventory provides comprehensive details of educational qualifications, certifications, competencies, location, department, cost, and experience of employees in an organization. It also captures the workforce’s professional attributes, expertise, interests, and abilities. Typically, it is updated by employees and further validated by the managers.
Maintaining a skills inventory will prepare companies for unforeseen situations like – skill shortage, employee turnover, last-minute firefighting, etc. In addition, by understanding current capabilities, firms can align their hiring strategy with business goals to avoid skill shortages.
Having learned about the basics, let’s read on to understand its significance;
Benefits of building skills inventory in the organization
Companies benefit from skills inventory because it helps them train their personnel, identify skill gaps, recruit suitable candidates, and more. A few benefits of skills inventory are as follows –
- Build a dedicated workforce to meet strategic goals
With skills inventory, organizations can analyze the employees’ existing skills and plan for future staffing requirements. As a result, firms can always be staffed with the necessary talent that aligns with the business goals.
For example, if the organization finds that DevOps is an in-demand skill for their business, they can identify if the current resources have those skills. If not, they can train the resources to acquire the skills or hire new resources. This way, firms can align the organization’s resourcing strategy to their long-term goals.
- Provides insights into skill gaps and resource shortages
According to McKinsey Global Institute Report, 14% of the global workforce will be replaced by 2030 due to advancements in artificial intelligence, automation, and digital transformation. The rapid rate of tech advancement has opened up a “skill gap.”
Skills inventory allows organizations to compare skill sets and identify where the gaps reside. Moreover, the resource manager can assess the pool across and identify any shortage well in advance. This will enable them to take proactive measures like – hiring, out-rotation/backfill, and upskilling/training to avoid a shortage of resources.
- Allocate competent resources to projects promptly
Getting the right people on suitable projects at the right time is essential. Skills inventory helps managers find the right resources for the job. They can go through the resource profile to check their qualifications, certifications, competencies, interests, cost, and availability and assign them to suitable tasks or projects.
Also, it allows managers to review their skills to avoid overdependency on some resources. If some of the resources are unavailable, one can quickly identify the resources with similar skills to step in.
- Implement effective training and development programs
Clear visibility of the employee’s skills ensures better planning for upskilling, training, and development initiatives. Organizations can create customized training/upskilling programs to build the workforce.
For example, if the resource in the marketing department lacks data analysis skills, he can be trained to improve productivity and gain a competitive advantage. Additionally, it increases job satisfaction and morale of the employee, eventually improving productivity.
- Facilitates the deployment of employees in cross-departmental projects
Skills inventory gives a bird’s eye view of an organization’s capabilities. It facilitates internal mobility, which means employees can be deployed to work across departments. It helps organizations save money in hiring new resources because the existing ones have the skills to do the job.
Also, it helps identify skill adjacencies with the help of which they can acquire roles in closely related areas. Today, 40% of employees are not confident of their capabilities if they are relevant in the future. By directing them to projects that align with their abilities, companies can avoid layoffs and protect their employer brand.
- Take control of unplanned attrition
Often, employees leave the organization when they feel their skills are not optimally utilized or not offered enough growth opportunities. If there is any unplanned attrition within the organization, managers can look into the skill inventory to capture employee preferences and interests.
This will help them assign resources to projects based on their interest. When the employees feel their competencies are deployed in the right place, they feel motivated and continue with the organization.
- Helps in succession planning to fill critical roles
In the past, resources for leadership roles were selected based on recommendations, and decisions were made without transparency. Today, firms have a backup or succession plan to fill critical positions.
A skills inventory can be leveraged to identify resources that can step in when critical resources are promoted or leave the company. By understanding the current employees’ capabilities, businesses can enhance their talent strategy and avoid a shortage of skills during critical times.
With a skills inventory system, organizations can easily understand their current capabilities and take measures to optimize their workforce. Let’s see how a resource management tool helps maintain skills inventory.
How does resource management software help maintain skills inventory?
In today’s competitive business landscape, it is critical to track and keep competency information about the workforce up to date. Only then can the right talent be easily identified and allocated to suitable opportunities based on skill, experience, qualifications, individual preferences, etc.
Saviom’s resource management software helps maintain a centralized repository across the enterprise. It allows employees to assess their skills and create personal learning paths to improve professional development. Any modification in resource information, such as acquiring a new skill or qualification, change in location and cost, etc., can be updated and duly verified by designated personnel.
Additionally, this up-to-date information can be made available to all resource managers across the enterprise in real-time, which helps in informed decision-making during allocation.
Conclusion
Maintaining a skills inventory should be a top priority for organizations in the modern era of rapidly changing trends. Just like software needs to be upgraded continuously, employees must also adapt to new skills.
Unfortunately, it is not always easy for companies to determine the necessary skills to future-proof their organization. Devising a skills inventory ensures you are placing people in positions where they will succeed while identifying areas of improvement.
