Focus On Existing Employees’ Skills to Fight Talent Shortage

Today’s talent landscape continues to be tumultuous as we encounter inflation, labor shortages, and constantly evolving employee retention and attraction tactics. The pandemic led to many individuals looking for new jobs and, in some cases, new career paths, leaving employers with a lack of qualified and skilled talent. 

Employee Supply and Demand

To combat the Great Resignation, many companies began to roll out the red carpet for prospective employees and tenured staff. Offerings such as adding more voluntary benefits, work from home stipends and generous signing bonuses quickly became the norm. Most recently, wages have risen to new peaks, with companies like AmazonOpens a new window announcing substantial increases to their base and cap pay. 

With the dire need for skilled talent across the workforce, many businesses are struggling to fill openings. Instead of looking externally for talent, one often overlooked tactic is mapping the skills of existing employees to the gaps within an organization. New HR and talent management technologies, such as Beamery Talent Analytics, can help companies achieve this tactic by providing leaders with a complete view of the existing skills and experiences of a candidate or an employee, allowing them to grow and retain the existing team. From a strategic planning perspective, enhanced data analytics can also help CHROs predict talent trends and more effectively map out future resourcing requirements.

For example, say you are looking for a new vice president of customer success because you need someone with a history of strategic customer relations. Despite a candidate having a dedicated career as a “vice president, ”the skill set of the role can vastly differ from industry to industry. Instead of hiring for a title, utilizing technology that identifies employee skills and gaps can create hyper-personalized recommendations and uncover trends in your workplace.  

As a first step, employers should gain a deep understanding of the skills their people currently have and identify opportunities to nurture and develop new skills to create a more clearly defined opportunity for a new hire. As more people look to change jobs and careers, leaders need to prepare to do more to meet and manage rising employee expectations.

Alleviating Skill Gaps With AI

Aided by AI, companies can put skills and potential at the heart of talent acquisition. AI has the potential to deliver improvements in talent planning and decision-making cycles, thus supporting recruiting teams in an ethical and efficient manner to identify skill sets that mend gaps within a company. It can also assist in suggestions on robust training, development and career pathing to improve a company internally without needing to find external help. Tapping into internal mobility platforms led by AI can aid in connecting individuals with opportunities to upskill, promoting career progression via tailored career pathways, improving retention and ultimately creating a workforce that is well placed to support future business growth.

See More: How Can Organizations Close the Skills Gap? IBM Offers an AnswerOpens a new window

The Talent Marketplace’s Impact on Employers

Employers cannot expect the business landscape to return to a pre-pandemic “normal.” Employees have found their voices and are demanding a more flexible work environment, including four-day work weeks, flexible hours and the ability to choose where to work. According to a recent studyOpens a new window we conducted, 72% of employees are confident that they can find a new job in three to six months. Employers not prepared to invest in these changes should instead be prepared to lose the war for talent. 

A mistake many businesses make when scrambling to fill openings is hiring purely based on the job description. When this occurs, employers lose sight of the potential of their talent, which can often lead to mismanaged expectations, lack of career mobility and, in the worst case, more turnover. When reviewing potential candidates, business leaders should take the time to interview for skills and passions beyond the needs of today. It is a good sign that a candidate can grow with a business when they are passionate about numerous facets of the business, has experience in a role adjacent to the one that is open and shows leadership skills.

Some businesses have taken this a step further by offering opportunities for “internal gigs” where employees are able to take on projects to gain new skills outside of their day-to-day projects. Further findingsOpens a new window ​​ from our study show that 46% of men and 33% of women have already taken on an internal project within the company they are employed in. Using AI to find those opportunities for employees to pursue retains talent and improves overall morale. An open, internal talent marketplace can encourage employees to take on projects outside their day-to-day roles and interact with other leaders or groups to continue to build upon skills and capabilities.

Reevaluating Recruitment and Retention Tactics

Offering high salaries and other perks may help get talent through the door, but that is only half the battle. Once your recruitment strategy begins to pay off, the retention strategy is equally important. Making sure employees feel valued and like they have a clear path to success is an often overlooked piece of the retention puzzle. 

Business leaders should adopt career pathing and talent mobility plans to help employees realize their passions and strengths beyond the role in which they were originally hired to do. Providing opportunities for growth, training and reskilling serves as a way to build a happy and productive talent landscape. Career growth and professional development provide a competitive advantage for businesses and staff alike. Another Beamery studyOpens a new window shows that 45% of employees want their company to prioritize staff training and development in 2022, which ranked highest along with greater benefits and incentives.

A tight labor market is here to stay with wage pressures and ongoing supply-demand issues. Smart recruitment and retention practices have never been more important, not just for CHROs, but also for executives across the business to understand and implement. 

What steps have you taken to identify and utilize available employees’ skill sets and potential to fill your talent gaps? Share with us on FacebookOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , and LinkedInOpens a new window .

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