Why organisations need to do skills audits

'This can act as an effective way to plan training initiatives and facilitate internal movement of talent'

BY Dexter Tilo 30 Oct 2024

Employers are being urged to carry out a skills audit in their organisation as part of a broader strategy to beat the talent crunch.

In a new white paper, Humanforce said a skills audit is a key component of workforce planning that assesses an employee's skills and capabilities to identify potential knowledge gaps or growth opportunities for an individual.

"This process also helps the organisation as a skills audit can create a 'heat map' to identify strengths and weaknesses in the existing workforce," Humanforce said.

A skills audit can also assist organisations in making smarter recruitment and internal mobility choices.

"When the skills required for each role in the organisation are documented, this can act as an effective way to plan training initiatives and can help facilitate internal movement of talent," it said.

"And of course, a skills audit can help to identify where current skills gaps exist, which can possibly only be filled with fresh externally sourced talent."

Executing a skills audit

According to Humanforce, a skills audit can be carried out through employee questionnaires and one-on-one chats that will cover:

Which skills employees are already proficient in
Which skills they are most interested in learning
Whether there are any skills they don't possess but should
The skills they need to learn to get to the next level or to move to another role
Whether your employees are interested in management or individual-contributor career paths

"An audit should review the leadership and interpersonal skills of employees, as well as their hard technical skills and soft skills, like communication, time management, and critical thinking," Humanforce added.