How to identify a skill gap in an employee September 18, 2018

How to identify a skill gap in an employee

Training is very important to most growing and ambitious companies, it is a vital tool. Training provides an opportunity to expand the knowledge base of all employees within a business. This can be a costly venture that can sometimes put off companies and finance controlers. There are also many different drawbacks such as, training can take time which means employees are not using precious time on their projects.

However, despite the drawbacks professional training courses provide the individual and the organisation with benefits that make the cost and time worthwhile.

Employees that receive the required training are more likely to perform their role better. This will give them the greater understanding of their responsibilities within their role and to build their confidence. When the employee has completed their training their overall performance will benefit their company. Employees who are competent will help the company to hold position amongst strong competitors in the industry. If the managers believe that their employees have a particular skill gap, then they will need to enrol them on a training course UK.

How to find a skill gap

Firstly you will need to take a closer look at the performance of your employees to identify their skill gaps. You will need to gather data to determine the competency gaps and find causes that need addressing. This is critical in the identification of training needs of an employee.

Many businesses use key performance indicators to see how a person contributes to a business as an employee. This will also look at the career progression and retention of the employee, this will determine the competency gaps in the workplace. The KPI’s are the best when it comes to identify skill gaps, there might be some employees that have issues with their KPI and performance. Trends are usually signs that something is wrong with a process and requires more work.

Employee assessments are very good to identify skill gaps, you can administer tests and quizzes as one of the practical assessments or roleplay. It is important base the assessments on real work scenarios to identify the actual skill gaps. If some gaps are found they can be enrolled on a personal training course to fill the skill gaps.

360 degree reviews are another way of distinguishing any skill gaps. These reviews are conducted by the managers and usually will take place every 6 months. The employee will speak to the manager to discuss how they believe they have been doing in the last 6 months. The manager will talk to them about appraisals, the employee can express their concerns regarding training that they might require.

Another way to identify skill gaps in the workplace is by bench marking the performance against the organisations top performers. This will set the reference on the skills that are required in the workplace. In the long term you can hire based on the bench marked profile of you’re A employee.

Looking for a training provider to upskill your workforce? Find out more about our personal training courses.